Enfield Local Plan exam
Interesting statement made by the GLA to the Enfield Local Plan examination:
It confirms that the GLA will be using the new Standard Method as the basis for the housing requirement for the next London Plan - 88,000 homes a year. The GLA is aiming to consult upon the new plan in the spring / summer of 2026. Historically, the GLA has always ignored national policy and adopted its own method, but it says that the new NPPF now rules against that, insisting on a mandatory national approach.
Also, it appears that the GLA will consider a review of London's green belt to accommodate that need. As it states on page 2 of that statement: "it would be unreasonable to argue that the jump to 88,000 homes a year can be achieved wholly within London's existing urban extent." (Its emphasis).
In the meantime, the GLA is opposed to the green belt releases in Enfield at Crews Hill and Chase Park, on the grounds that the developments, supported by the Council, under-utilise the land, will rely too much on car travel, and that they pre-empt strategic decisions to be made by the new London Plan.
Director at P.Land (planning and development) Consultants Ltd
3 周Unfortunately this approach of "jam tomorrow" is one that I have seen throughout my professional life. It is even more insidious when I have seen Local Plan inspectors happily remove sites from plans when new housing numbers decreased the requirement. There is a considerable degree of irony of the GLA objecting to the release of green belt within its boundaries when for years it has been relying on green belt release to provide housing for its workers in the South East and East of England whose commutes are far longer and often still by car. Finally how can two sites in Enfield really predetermine the strategy for the whole of London?
Director, Catriona Riddell & Associates
1 个月The London Plan review will be running just ahead of the SDS preparation around London so the commitment to meeting the 88k pa will make things a little bit easier. However, London has never consumed its own smoke and the SM target is huge, so it will probably need to look to particular areas for help - Thames Estuary, Innovation Corridor, Thames Valley.
Local plan consultant (SA)
1 个月Interesting that they seem to say not only will they calculate housing need using the standard method (rather than an alternative method, as there was previously flexibility to do), but that they will set London's housing requirement at SM need (i.e. not generate unmet need, even though there is, of course, still flexibility to do so): "... the next London Plan will therefore apportion London’s housing need, as established by the national standard method, across London’s planning authorities in the form of housing targets enshrined in the London Plan."