Responding to the announcement of new measures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Mayor of London aimed at accelerating housebuilding across London, John Dickie, Chief Executive at BusinessLDN, said:
“With housing starts, planning applications and house sales at historic lows in the capital, the Government and Mayor are right to take action to accelerate delivery of the new homes that Londoners desperately need.
“As housebuilding costs have spiralled in recent years, construction has faltered. This is hitting London’s competitiveness by making it harder for employers to recruit and retain staff, while also forcing boroughs to collectively spend £5.5 million a day on temporary accommodation to tackle homelessness.
“Temporarily adjusting the percentage of affordable homes that a project should provide and offering time-limited relief on developer contributions to local infrastructure payments are welcome and these changes, along with greater flexibility on design standards and enhanced planning powers for the Mayor, will help to get more shovels in the ground.
“We are delighted to see the Government back our calls for the establishment of a City Hall Developer with £322m of funding which can be used to leverage in more private investment and create partnerships to unlock more land for development.
“To build momentum the Government needs to double down on reforms to speed up the Building Safety Regulator’s approvals process and stand ready — with the Mayor — to intervene if supply doesn’t respond and further action is needed to kick start development and support economic growth.”