Gove ‘misunderstands how cities work’, says BPF

The British Property Federation has criticised Michael Gove’s intervention in the London Plan, saying he misunderstands “how our cities work”. On Monday, Gove directed London mayor Sadiq Khan to conduct a partial review of the London Plan to try to boost the number of new homes in the capital. He has asked the Greater London Authority to report back its findings in September. The housing secretary said 1,818 acres of industrial land could potentially be turned into housing developments, but are being hampered by the planning system. Sam Bensted, assistant policy director for planning and development at the BPF, said while the need to tackle London’s housing crisis is “irrefutable”, the idea that employment uses could be relocated outside the M25 to free up land for new homes “fundamentally misunderstands how our cities work”. He added: “Over the past 20 years, London has lost 24% of its industrial land to other uses, which is naturally restricting the development of modern warehouse space and making it harder for businesses to find the premises they need to manufacture and move goods. This will impact job creation and economic growth moving forward. “Intensification and mixed-use industrial development are possible solutions to balance London’s housing and employment needs but are not silver bullets as they are not suitable everywhere. Current evidence also suggests that our capital will need much more industrial space in the future to meet London’s population and business growth needs, rather than supply being eroded further.” Other industry observers noted that Gove is overlooking simpler solutions to clear the planning logjam. Marc Vlessing, chief executive of Pocket Living, said: “Michael Gove still continues to miss an obvious trick when it comes to getting more homes built within London. “Yes, we can look to utilise more industrial land for housing, and squeeze greater density from the major residential schemes within the opportunity areas, but a significant number of new homes can be delivered across the capital by simply granting planning permission in principle for residential development on brownfield sites of less than 0.25 ha (0.6 acres) and which provide policy-compliant levels of affordable housing. “Our research from last year highlighted that such a presumption could unlock up to 1,200 sites in London alone, the equivalent of 300 full football pitches – a point we strongly made when we contributed to the recent government-sponsored review of the London Plan, which led to this intervention.” In his intervention, Gove called on the mayor to “sufficiently” target 47 areas across London which the GLA had previously identified as having potential for delivering at least 2,500 homes. He also urged Khan to consider how other policies in the plan that constrain projects could be adjusted, and asked if there was a role for a single planning framework to accelerate housing. Additionally, the government is drafting in a “super-squad” of planners to work across London to speed up planning decisions on complex cases. Gove also announced £500,000 of specialist planning support to help the building of 7,200 homes in Greenwich and Newham. Gove said he intervened in the London Plan because “Londoners are being let down by the mayor’s chronic under-delivery of new homes in the capital”. He said: “We have already taken comprehensive action to reverse this trend – investing billions of pounds to build affordable homes and unlocking brownfield developments as part of our long-term plan for housing.   “However, that alone will not build the homes we need, which is why I am now directing the mayor to review aspects of the London Plan and announcing specialist support on planning to help unlock thousands of homes.”