Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has published his housing strategy, adding more detail to some of his recent policy announcements.
The 264-page document housing strategy, published yesterday, covers much of the policy already announced by Khan, as well as that in the draft London Plan.
Policy ammendments include an overhaul of the Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) policy so that small and medium-sized builders can pay less upfront. The Greater London Authority will also encourage councils to do the same for the local authority CIL.
On his ongoing housing strategy, Khan says: “There are already clear signs of progress. We have seen a big jump in the level of affordable housing in planning applications. Under my ground-breaking new approach to the planning system, it is now well over 30%.
“I have also started to invest the record £4.82bn of affordable housing funding I secured for London from government, and last year we started building more than 12,500 genuinely affordable homes.
“That’s the highest number since City Hall took over responsibility for affordable housing. Crucially, this figure includes thousands of homes based on social rent levels, up from zero when I came into office.”
As expected, ballots on estate regeneration are included, as is a renewed focus on councils building homes and support for precision-manufactured homes.
Small and medium-sized builders
According to the Home Builders Federation, 12,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were responsible for building 40% of new homes nationally in 1988, compared with 2,500 SMEs producing 12% today.
Furthermore, the Federation of Master Builders says smaller builders report three main barriers stopping them from building more homes in London: access to land; the speed and efficiency of the planning system; and access to finance.
Regarding the relaxation of CIL payments for SMEs, the Housing Strategy goes on to say: “Until recently, CIL payments were due shortly after commencement of a scheme unless the scheme was large enough to benefit from an instalments policy. In order to reduce the finance costs associated with smaller-scale residential development, the mayor has amended the Mayoral CIL instalments policy so that more schemes – particularly medium-sized and smaller ones – can benefit.
“Councils are strongly encouraged to apply the same principle to their own instalments policies.”
Presumption in favour
City Hall has ambitious targets set aside for SMEs, with the draft London Plan revealing small sites (those of 25 units or fewer) expected to deliver 38% of the 65,000 pa target.
With that in mind, the GLA has set out a presumption in favour of development for small schemes that meet certain criteria – these include being within 800m of a tube or railway station, or town centre boundary, or with a PTAL (public transport accessibility level) rating of 3-6.
EG has mapped opportunities and comparable schemes that have 25 homes or fewer and are within 800m of all London tube and railway stations. More than 10,500 schemes are included, totalling more than 93,000 homes.
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