Sophie is an Associate with Indigo, a leading independent planning consultancy based in the City. Indigo is RTPI Planning Consultancy
of the Year 2015 and 2017. She works on commercial, leisure and office schemes in the central London Boroughs.
2018 - A YEAR OF CHANGE - CONT’D
10. Public Toilets: To overcome the shortfall on public toilets, new developments are to
be expected to incorporate new public facilities!
Brexit and Potential Impact on London
Whilst it’s still a case of crystal ball gazing, Brexit can’t be all bad for London. Indeed,
it’s a good opportunity for the city to diversify into new areas, shifting into less traditional
banking and financial services allowing the growth for ‘fin tech’, growth of the city for
medical research and attraction of overseas researchers and London as a hugely
important higher education provider drawing students from across the globe.
London Elections
As if there isn’t enough change and uncertainty in the planning policy system, local
elections will take place across every Borough in London on 3 May 2018. This means
that for the 6 weeks leading up to the elections, all Local Authorities will be in ‘Purdah’
restricting officials from taking decisions and often preventing planning committees from
taking place up until later in May.
A YouGov poll back in September 2017 suggested that Labour will increase their hold
across the capital and increase their power by 15-20%. With the Conservatives in
power, this will only help to assist Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London.
National Policy
If changes to regional policy in London isn’t enough, we understand that the
Government is currently working on revisions to the National Planning Policy
Framework (NPPF) due for release in Spring 2018, the first of its revisions since its
consolidation of 1300 pages of policy to 65 pages in 2012. This follows the publication
of the Housing White Paper in early 2017, and expectations suggest that the NPPF will
ensure that house building is reiterated at the fore front of the revised NPPF. We would
anticipate the following measures will be incorporated:
1. Holding Local Authorities to account through a new housing delivery test - are Local
Authorities meeting their targets based on delivery?
2. Starter homes, like shared ownership homes, should be available to households
that need them most, with an income of less than £80,000 (£90,000 for London).
3. More brownfield land to be released with a higher proportion of starter homes.
4. Avoiding building homes at low densities.
All this change could of course be a positive. Having up to date policies should ease the
task of decision takers, and make targets clearer for developers. Let’s hope so!
Sophie Rae Associate
Indigo Planning
T: 020 3848 2500 M: 07469 156 842
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