How Sadiq Khan failed London on housing

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A common complaint is that Khan’s policies have noble aims but lead to unintended consequences. For example, so-called “dual aspect” rules say every home must have windows facing in at least two directions – forcing developers to redesign layouts and break up buildings into multiple blocks.

Another policy aimed at increasing ventilation during hotter months requires 75pc of a room to have a ceiling height of at least 2.5 metres. This rules out loft conversions in most Victorian houses where ceiling heights are often less than this, according to Urbanist Architecture.

It also restricts the number of homes that can fit into a high-rise at the same time as separate building height rules cap how high they can go.

There is even guidance for how big pieces of furniture such as beds, sofas and dining tables typically should be.

In many cases, the requirement for 50pc “affordable” housing is simply too high for many schemes to remain viable, according to one industry figure.

“It is like the laffer curve with taxes,” they say. “Eventually you reach a point of diminishing returns and it just makes things unviable.”

Unlike Labour’s national leader, Sir Keir Starmer, Khan has refused to carry out any review of green belt and blasted a Labour-run council in Enfield for trying to release some of the land for housing. 

These policies collectively act as a drag on housing delivery, with data from Molior showing that there were only 1,430 construction starts for new homes in London during the third quarter of this year – the lowest of any time since 2009 when the country was gripped by a recession and banking crisis.

“The planning system should ideally function with clear rules about what you can and what you can’t do, that correspond to how the land is allocated inside the local plan,” says Breach at the Centre for Cities.

“But too often, we see this kind of micromanagement – and it comes with costs. The road to housing shortages is paved with good intentions.”

Among Khan’s critics is Berkeley Group, one of the capital’s most prolific developers, which claims the planning system in London has become “unworkable” and is driving out investment.

“Without urgent, radical action these regulatory barriers are going to cause a further fall in delivery and London’s deeply damaging housing crisis will get worse,” a spokesman says.

Last month, Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, took aim at Khan and warned that if his housing numbers didn’t improve, the Government could seize control from City Hall.

The Mayor’s office rejects these criticisms, arguing that Khan has delivered the largest number of homes “since the 1930s”. 

A spokesman says: “Given the scale of the housing crisis in London, Sadiq is focusing on building more new social homes and the homes Londoners can actually afford, rather than the luxury penthouse apartments prioritised by the previous Mayor [Boris Johnson].

“Sadiq has proven that you can deliver record-breaking numbers of high quality, sustainable social and affordable homes at the same time as pushing up overall housing completions.

“Far from adding to the national housing crisis, the Mayor’s London Plan has insulated London because boroughs have clear housing targets to deliver against and has helped to get London building again.”

Regardless, by anyone’s measure – including Khan’s – London needs far more housing than it is currently getting.

Until the Mayor can find a convincing way to move the dial, areas like Park Royal will continue to stick out like a sore thumb.

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