The housing crisis is Britain’s defining domestic policy failure. And nowhere is it felt more acutely than in London. Which is why a new report published today by the Centre for Policy Studies and Onward sets out the most comprehensive programme yet for resolving it.
‘Fixing London Housing‘, authored by CPS Head of Housing Ben Hopkinson and Onward senior researcher Laurence Fredricks, argues that most of the necessary policy levers already exist within current legislation. What has been missing is the political will to use them.
The report is published with forewords from James Cleverly, Conservative Shadow Housing Secretary, and Laila Cunningham, Reform’s Mayoral candidate for London.
Cleverly argues that bold action on regeneration, brownfield sites and red tape is needed to deliver the homes the capital needs, and that ‘the decisions we make today will shape the opportunities available to future generation’. Cunningham warns that ‘a city as wealthy, dynamic and successful as London should never have had a housing crisis’ and that after decades of failure by successive governments and mayors, ‘the housing crisis was created by political decisions. It can be solved by political decisions’.
The report identifies five major categories of opportunity:
- Two new Development Corporations covering Southern Tower Hamlets and the Old Kent Road Bakerloo line extension corridor, while giving more powers to the existing Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation to maximise the development around its 11 Tube, Overground, and Elizabeth Line stops and future HS2 station.
- Estate regeneration, which is capable of delivering 500,000 additional homes by doubling density on London’s ageing post-war estates
- The release of 2,293 hectares of Strategic Industrial Land within walking distance of Tube, rail and tram stations
- Better use of public land through five-year asset management pipelines
- A strong presumption in favour of brownfield development embedded in the London Plan, combined with scrapping Biodiversity Net Gain requirements for London brownfield, raising environmental impact assessment screening thresholds, and extending full expensing to cover brownfield regeneration.
Ben Hopkinson is the Head of Housing and Infrastructure at the Centre for Policy Studies. He was previously the Head of Research at Britain Remade, a pro-economic growth campaign group, and a Senior Risk Consultant at PwC. He holds an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a BA in Philosophy,... View Article
Laurence Fredricks is a senior researcher at Onward, focused on housing and planning policy. He has a BA in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge, as well as an MPhil in Planning, Growth and Regeneration.
