Rayner proposes new partnership approach with Mayor of London

Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister and secretary for housing, communities and local government has written to the Mayor of London, informing the Mayor of the withdrawal of the London Plan Direction and a new partnership approach.

The Plan set out a framework for how London will develop over the next 20 to 25 years as part of the statutory development plan, meaning that the policies in the Plan should inform decisions on planning applications across the capital. 

She addressed the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, in a letter to address house building in England.

Rayner said: "Achieving our Manifesto commitment of 1.5 million new homes over five years is a priority for this government, and an essential prerequisite of this is reform of the planning system. That is why we launched a consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), including a new Standard Method for assessing housing needs, in our first month in office.

"As we set out at the time of launching the consultation on this revised NPPF, this government recognises that the current Standard Method, which applies an arbitrary 35 per cent uplift to each and every London borough, results in a target for the capital that is divorced from reality. It effectively made tens of thousands of homes a fiction, existing on paper but never realistically planned for, when if reallocated to other places these numbers could have been delivered. The government is clear that it needs revision."

She said the proposed new Standard Method produces an "ambitious but deliverable figure for London of nearly 81,000."

Rayner said that to achieve this, output in the capital will have to increase markedly from the current average of 37,200 homes per year.

"I appreciate fully the scale and breadth of the housing delivery challenge in London, and I recognise that the city faces unique issues, but the government does expect London to take steps to boost its output," she added.