The Mayor of London’s draft London Plan will play a major role in shaping London’s future growth and competitiveness.
The London Property Alliance welcomes a number of positive changes, including stronger support for prime office space and reforms to cycle parking standards. However, we have identified the key areas where our members believe the draft Plan needs to go further to support growth, investment and delivery across central London.
We would welcome your feedback to help shape our consultation response and ensure it reflects the experience of delivering, investing in and operating real estate in central London. Please send your answers to our questions on key areas below or wider feedback to policy@cwpa.org.uk by 12:00pm on Thursday 15 October so we can reflect your views as we finalise our submission.
Read our draft submission in full here
Key areas and questions for members
1) Economic growth
The London Plan should place greater emphasis on economic growth, planning positively for office demand and recognising offices as critical economic infrastructure. This should be reflected through stronger support for office delivery and capacity in the Central Activites Zone (CAZ), including limiting office loss to defined circumstances and encouraging the renewal of existing stock. The Plan should also ensure that the tall buildings framework does not unnecessarily restrict growth by being overly prescriptive or failing to reflect the development context of central London.
(Pages 6-8, 12-16, 25-33 & 60-66)
Questions for members:
- Do you support a stronger growth-first approach, with offices treated as critical economic infrastructure?
- Should the London Plan do more to protect office floorspace and encourage the renewal of secondary stock into prime space?
- Does the proposed tall buildings framework risk unnecessarily restricting appropriate growth in Westminster and the City?
2) Viability
The London Plan should ensure that planning policies and obligations remain proportionate and do not undermine development viability. Affordable workspace requirements should not be applied in the CAZ, where the market already provides a range of lower-cost space, and should only be introduced where supported by robust local evidence and viability testing. More broadly, the cumulative impact of planning requirements should be carefully considered to avoid increasing costs and constraining development delivery. The proposed lower and more flexible cycle parking standards are therefore welcomed.
(Pages 17-19, 38-44 & 56-60)
Question for members:
- What policies in the draft Plan do you believe would materially affect viability and the ability to bring forward development?
- Should affordable workspace policies generally be excluded from the CAZ unless there is a clear evidence-based local justification?
3) Environment & retrofit
Operational and embodied carbon policies should be evidence-led and applied in a way that does not prevent development, recognising the particular circumstances of tall buildings and constrained sites. The Plan should balance carbon objectives against the wider social and economic benefits of development, while avoiding a ‘retrofit only’ approach by recognising that redevelopment can play an important role in renewing obsolete stock, supporting growth and delivering modern workspace where appropriate.
(Pages 44-51 & 61-66)
Questions for members:
- Do the proposed energy and embodied carbon policies risk constraining viable development, particularly tall and constrained schemes?
- Does the Plan strike the right balance between retaining buildings and enabling redevelopment where this better supports growth and the need for modern workspace?
Email your responses to policy@cwpa.org.uk by 12:00pm on Thursday 15 October.
