Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a significant “emergency” package of measures aimed at stimulating home building and tackling the housing crisis across London. This decisive action, developed in collaboration with the UK Government, comes as the capital faces its most challenging period for housebuilding since the global financial crash, driven by high interest rates and rising material costs.
Key Measures to Kickstart Development
The temporary measures are designed to boost the viability of stalled projects and incentivise developers to “get spades in the ground” quickly:
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- Fast-Track Planning Route: A time-limited fast-track planning process will be available for sites that commit to delivering at least 20% affordable housing, a reduction from the previous 35% target for the mayor’s quick-approval route. This aims to unlock developments by making them more feasible without a full viability assessment.
- Temporary Levy Relief: Developers may receive temporary relief from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), a tax on new development, to reduce costs for schemes that can start promptly and guarantee affordable homes for Londoners.
- Increased Mayoral Powers: The Mayor will be granted new powers to fast-track housing, including the ability to review and ‘call-in’ schemes of 50 homes or more where boroughs intend to refuse the application, streamlining the planning process.
- Developer Investment Fund: An initial £322 million of government funding will be used to establish a City Hall Developer Investment Fund, aimed at unlocking and accelerating housing delivery.
Mayor Khan emphasised that while affordable housing remains a top priority, this “lower proportion of something is better than a higher proportion of nothing” approach is necessary to prevent the supply of affordable homes from drying up entirely.
This comprehensive package seeks to reignite construction, increase housing supply, and ultimately deliver more of the affordable homes Londoners urgently need.
