Angela Rayner has scrapped the review of London housing directed by the last administration and set higher targets for the capital.
The Deputy Prime Minister and housing secretary says the move aims “to kickstart a new partnership approach aimed at boosting housebuilding in the capital”.
In a letter sent today to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Rayner set a target of building 81,000 homes a year in London.
This is up from an average of 37,200 homes built a year over the last four years in the capital.
It is also higher than the 62,300 homes a year previous Conservative housing secretary Michael Gove had directed Khan to build in a letter sent to the Mayor in March.
Gove had told Khan to build homes across 736 hectares of industrial land and in 47 “opportunity areas” across the city. He added that a new government ‘super-squad’ of planners, would be brought in to speed up planning decisions.
But Rayner says today that “withdrawing the direction will allow the government” to work more closely to build more homes in the capital.
In the Deputy Prime Minister’s letter to Khan, she writes: “I appreciate fully the scale and breadth of the housing delivery challenge in London, and I recognise that the city faces unique issues, but the government does expect London to take steps to boost its output.”
The government says London will boost housing through proposed changes to borough housing targets and other reforms to the planning system.
It added that the Ministry of Housing will work with Homes England “to further speed up housing delivery, and money will also be available for London through the £150m, brownfield, infrastructure land fund”.
Rayner says: “I know Mayor Sadiq Khan shares my commitment to tackle the housing crisis and boost economic growth to deliver real opportunities for Londoners.
“Our new approach will take more fundamental action and focus on a partnership approach to build the housing that London needs and unlock the city’s economic potential.”
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