A High Court judge today largely backed the mayor of London’s ‘threshold’ approach to affordable housing.
The approach had been challenged by four retirement home developers who claimed that the mayor was overreaching his planning powers and acting inconsistently with London’s development plan.
However, in a ruling today judge Mr Justice Ouseley rejected most of the home builders’ case.
The so-called “threshold approach” allows developments to be fast-tracked through the planning system where they provide at least 35% affordable housing. It was introduced as a supplementary planning guidance (SPG) note in 2017.
Specifically, retirement home builders McCarthy & Stone Retirement Lifestyles, Pegasus Life, Churchill Retirement Living and Renaissance Retirement contended that the SPG was unlawful.
They said, according to the judgment, that the SPG was unlawful because it constituted policy which should only be in the London Plan; that it was inconsistent with that plan; that the SPG was a programme that requires a “special environmental assessment”; and that it was produced without due regard to the public sector’s duty on equality.
The judge ruled against the developers on all but one point. He ruled that “in one respect” the approach was inconsistent with the plan. He said he would hear further arguments about what should be done at a later date.
Jules Pipe, London’s deputy mayor for planning, skills and regeneration, said that the threshold guidance “sets out a clear approach that makes the planning system in London clearer, quicker and more consistent.”
“I am pleased that the judge has backed this approach, which will help us to turn around years of neglect when it comes to building the homes Londoners so desperately need,” he said.
However, in an emailed statement, home builders welcomed the judge’s ruling that the approach was “in one respect” inconsistent with the London Plan.
“We’re delighted to have been successful on ground one of the judicial review,” the statement said. “Today’s judgment shows the extent to which planning policy at the national and local level is not sufficiently supportive of the housing needs of older people.”
They will have the opportunity to argue what “if any” remedy should be adopted at a later hearing, the judge said.
McCarthy & Stone Retirement Lifestyles Limited and others v The Mayor of London on behalf of the Greater London Authority, High Court (Ouseley J) 23 May 2018
