Savills responds to publication of New London Plan consultation document

This new plan arrives at a pivotal moment: in the wake of data revealing that 23 of London’s Boroughs reported zero housing starts in the last quarter (Q1 2025 housing starts using Molior data). The message is clear - the status quo must change, and a strategic rethink of policy is required to help remove barriers to growth.

Savills welcomes the renewed focus on delivery and look forward to engaging in the consultation process. We will continue to share our insights as more detail emerges, but the key points of this latest document are detailed below. 

A housing-led agenda

At its heart, there is a simple, urgent objective: build more homes. The Mayor is now required to plan for an ambitious new housing target of 88,000 homes per year, up significantly from the current target of 52,000 homes per year. The document signals a clear political and policy pivot, one that places housing delivery front and centre, backed by a framework with the ambition to be more streamlined, flexible and responsive to viability challenges.

In the Mayor’s own words, planning in London must now focus on “securing permissions for housing development”.

Policy shifts to watch

Several important policy shifts signal how the new Plan intends to turn ambition into delivery:

• Green Belt review: perhaps the most striking change is a willingness to review Green Belt land, including ‘grey belt’ and low-quality areas, with a view to enabling large-scale housing development, a marked departure from previous policy stances.
• Density and brownfield: there is a renewed emphasis on higher density development, particularly on brownfield land, and without relying on unfunded public transport projects to unlock that density.
• More flexible requirements: a commitment has been made to streamline and phase out regulatory and policy burdens, particularly where those policies are duplicated within the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), an updated version of which was published in December 2024.
• Specialised housing: expect flexible affordable housing requirements for different products and tenures (including student accommodation, elderly housing, and Build to Rent (including smaller schemes with under 50 units).
• Affordable housing overhaul: the fast-track threshold and delivery requirements for affordable housing are under review. Potential changes include:

1. Raising the affordable requirement to 50% on Green Belt land, in line with the NPPF (2024)
2. Introducing new tenures such as Key Worker Living Rent
3. Mandating full replacement of social rented homes in estate regeneration schemes.

A broader spatial and economic vision

The Plan isn’t just about housing. It also proposes changes that will shape London's broader spatial and economic development:

• Town centres and the CAZ: there is support for a more flexible approach to appropriate use classes within designated town centre and a reinvigorated Oxford Street, while a boundary review for the Central Activities Zone (CAZ) could see residential areas removed from it.
• Industrial Land Strategy: revised strategic protections for industrial land are on the table, alongside potential new designations within low-value Green Belt areas and a broader plan for data centres and infrastructure.
• Transport: in line with London's climate goals, the Plan continues to promote car-free development and explores how micromobility options like e-scooters and cargo bikes can be better integrated. However, the Plan also invites feedback on revised cycle parking standards, reflecting industry feedback on their high cost and poor usage.
• Design, height and small sites: new design codes and minimum height benchmarks are proposed to help small sites contribute meaningfully to housing supply. The definition of tall building clusters is also being reassessed.
• Sustainability: the document seeks feedback on a wide range of climate-related policy tools, including retrofitting historic buildings, improving the Urban Greening Factor, and reassessing carbon standards for developments of all sizes.
• Visitor economy: proposing support for purpose-built visitor accommodation more widely across the CAZ, town centres, high streets and in areas with good public transport accessibility.

What comes next?

This is just the start of the process. The consultation is open until 22 June 2025, and many of the policies are still in formative stages. Sector-specific analysis will follow in the coming weeks from Savills experts, covering:

1. Industrial land, data centres and offices
2. Housing
3. Green / Grey Belt
4. Co-Living / Student
5. Sustainability and retrofit