London's greatly reduced housing target could still be missed unless the government allocates "significant" funding to enable enough building, City Hall has warned. Ministers have said that the capital needs an extra 88,000 homes per year to meet increasing demand, though the draft London Plan, devised by the Greater London Authority (GLA), suggests a 55,800 annual target is more realistic.
Jules Pipe, Sir Sadiq Khan's Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and the Fire Service, has now said that the revised aim is only a "theoretically plausible" figure that depends on support from central government. "Our 558,000 figure is our calculation of what could be feasibly delivered within the 10-year period," he told the London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee last week. "Even the 558,000 is only feasible if a number of things happen."
Three demands to central government
Mr Pipe cited three demands that City Hall has made to central government: sustained investment in public transport, including upgrades; the delivery of the DLR extension to Thamesmead; and a "massive" increase in the Affordable Housing Grant on top of what ministers decided last year. Last year the Mayor secured £11.7 billion to deliver the London Social and Affordable Homes Programme, which will run from this year to 2036. At least 60 per cent of homes delivered under this programme are expected to be for social rent.
"Those three things need to be in place just for the 558,000 to be realistic," he told Assembly Members, clarifying that the London Plan was not a delivery plan but a spatial strategy, and that the money to ensure homes are built needed to come from somewhere. Mr Pipe suggested that officials landed on the figure because it was neither too ambitious to be vulnerable to inspectors "driving it down" after looking at the plans, nor modest enough to risk letting up pressure on central government to support City Hall.
Government target questioned
He also refused to endorse the government's target of building 1.5 million homes across the country in this parliament, saying it was "very ambitious". Lord Bailey, the City Hall Conservatives Housing spokesperson who also sits on the committee, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "The Deputy Mayor's admission that London can meet even a reduced target of 58,000 homes a year only with significant government funding exposes the scale of City Hall's long-term failure.
"For years, Sadiq Khan's rhetoric has been far stronger than his delivery, while Londoners have been crushed by soaring rents and high mortgage rates. The Mayor cannot keep waiting for Whitehall to solve this crisis. London's councils need greater support, flexibility and leadership from City Hall and a new culture that puts building homes ahead of excuses, blame and press releases."
Next steps
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government was contacted for comment. The London Plan remains in draft form, with the GLA's proposed target of 55,800 homes per year still subject to examination and potential revision before it is adopted.
