The Greater London Authority Bill, which contains proposals enabling the mayor of
If adopted, the bill would:
* grant the mayor extra power to veto those local authority planning frameworks that do not conform to his land-use blueprint, the London Plan;
* allow the mayor to take over the planning role of London boroughs to determine, rather than merely direct refusal as at present, those applications referred to him that are of strategic importance or where the relevant authority is failing to meet other London Plan targets;
* enable the mayor to determine any applications made in boroughs neighbouring the capital that are of significance to London, such as power stations and airport expansions;
* allow the mayor to negotiate and allocate section 106 payments from applications that he has taken over;
* lower the threshold at which residential schemes are referred to the mayor to 150 homes, rather than the present 500.
London boroughs would continue to refer commercial schemes to the mayor under the existing thresholds, except in the City of London, which has secured an increase in these thresholds to 150m (from 75m) or 100,000 sq m (from 30,000 sq m).
Guy Bransby, director of planning at Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “These are significant changes for development in
“Where developers are proposing tall buildings or mixed-use development that meet the mayor’s agenda, but the local authority is unsupportive, the mayor’s ability to determine such applications will be welcomed by developers.”
“Developers of medium-sized schemes may look at this with a bit more trepidation because the lowering of residential unit thresholds will enable the mayor to become involved in more schemes, potentially causing delays. The new powers also have the potential to rub a few local authorities up the wrong way where the mayor elects to ‘take over’ planning applications.”
The bill is expected to receive royal assent in the coming months and could pass into law by October 2007.
