The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has unveiled a set of new planning rules to speed up the delivery of 'affordable' housing in the capital.

The new Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) sets out a new approach to development. Key features include:

• Developers of private land offered a fast-track route through the planning process. Costly and protracted viability negotiations will be bypassed if developers meet a minimum 35% 'affordable' housing without public funding. Developments on public land will have to achieve at least 50% 'affordable' housing to qualify for the fast-track route.

• All developments should get underway within two years of planning permission being granted, or face having the financial model behind their plans scrutinised.

• Any developments that do not meet the minimum 'affordable' thresholds will also face further scrutiny as they near completion - with financial details in the application being published online for the public to see, and a share of any unexpected profits being re-invested in more housing.

On the back of the SPG, City Hall officials have written to all London councils urging them to make use of the Mayor's expert viability team if developers try to reduce affordable housing levels after planning permission has been granted. 

-- Advertisement --

This team, drawn from the public and private sector, was introduced by the Mayor earlier this year to scrutinise in detail the financial modelling behind developers' plans

Mayor Khan said: "The housing crisis is the biggest challenge facing Londoners today with too many people – particularly the younger generation - being priced out of our city, unable to afford a home.

"I've been honest with Londoners from the start – we can't turn things round overnight. But we're working hard to tackle the issue every day and we've already agreed to put £1.7bn of the investment that I secured from Government into 50,000 new and genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy. This investment will work hand-in-hand with the new approach for developers that I'm introducing today, which will allow them to benefit from a fast track through the planning system if they offer more affordable housing and get building quickly."

Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy (Real Estate), at the British Property Federation, said: "Delivering a greater number of affordable homes in London is fundamental if the capital is to continue to grow and deliver the vital services that everyone uses. Our sector relies on a thriving London economy and, through initiatives like Build to Rent, has been seeking to ensure we deliver more homes to cater for the capital's population.

"We think the Mayor is right to seek to build as much affordable housing on public land as he can, to the extent that it is also delivering the infrastructure needed and communities that people want to live in.

"On private land, affordable housing obligations are often one of many developer contributions, and for the sake of all involved it is important that the process is fair, time and priority conscious, and well-informed. We therefore support the expertise on planning and viability the Mayor is establishing in City Hall and would encourage its use."

To view the Mayor's Supplementary Planning Guidance, visit here.

(LM/MH)