I’m not sure what Manchesterism is but Londonism surely isn’t working.
The 2024 Places for Everyone joint development plan for Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan leaves it to local authorities “through local plans” to set “targets for the provision of affordable housing for sale and rent as part of market-led developments based on evidence relating to need and viability”.
In contrast, the London Plan has traditionally set London-wide targets. The 2021 plan sets a strategic target of 50% (policy H4) and thresholds within H5 of 35% and 50% for different categories of land which, if not met, require viability appraisal and a late stage viability review process to secure affordable housing where possible due to future improvements in viability.
Five years on from the London Plan, the effect of those thresholds is surely obvious to all: see my 18 October 2025 blog post London Stalling .
The Government and the Mayor of London finally reacted to the obvious need for stimuli by way of an initial policy note on 23 October 2025 (see my blog post 4 Key Asks For The London Housebuilding Support Package Consultation).
The Mayor of London’s finalised package of support for housebuilding in the capital in the form of its 25 March 2026 London Plan Guidance is now subject to a judicial review brought by three London boroughs and “formally supported” by four others. After public consultation which led to amendments from what was initially proposed, the guidance was published, with support from the government, on 25 March 2026 to respond “to the current challenging macro-economic circumstances and the changing national regulatory landscape which have led to a reduction in housebuilding in the capital” and to create “an additional time-limited emergency route which departs from policy H5 of the London Plan.”
I described the package, together with associated measures by government to provide relief from CIL in specific circumstances (for which we still await the relevant legislation – spell e-m-e-r-g-e-n-c-y for me again), in my 25 March 2026 blog post “The Government And The Mayor Now Expect Boroughs, Developers And Delivery Partners To Make Full Use Of These Measures To Approve And Build The Homes That Londoners Urgently Need”.
Following widespread concern as to whether the initially proposed measures would be sufficient (see my 13 December 2025 blog post The Proposed London Housing Emergency Measures Package Is Underwhelming), my impression is that the final package has been viewed much more positively by those with stalled residential projects in the capital, with, for instance, the removal of any requirement for a late stage (as opposed to an early stage) review mechanism from the time-limited planning route (which would have killed off much funding) and the extension of the qualifying timescale.
But of course, since the 25 March publication, we have had the 7 May local elections. Which are the boroughs behind the current judicial review? The three claimants are Tower Hamlets (majority control Aspire, previously no overall control), Hackney (majority control Green, previously Labour) and Lewisham (majority control Green, previously Labour). The four boroughs supporting the litigation are Lambeth (no overall control, albeit Green-led, previously Labour), Southwark (now Green/Liberal Democrat joint administration, previously Labour), Waltham Forest (majority control Green, previously Labour) and Haringey (minority control Green, previously Labour). The Mayor no longer has the allyship of these crucial authorities.
For a judicial review brought presumably with the intention of seeking to persuade the Mayor to stick to the 35% affordable housing fast-track threshold within policy H5 of the London Plan, it is interesting (possibly even remarkable) that so little has been revealed by the boroughs as to the detailed basis for the challenge. The existence of a pre-action protocol letter was first revealed by counsel at the Hillingdon local plan examination on 14 May but is still not in the public domain. All we have in the public domain as to the proceedings themselves are press statements from some of the relevant boroughs, the most detailed being Tower Hamlets’ statement on 24 June 2026, Councils launch legal challenge to stop Mayor of London cutting affordable housing.
“The legal challenge, backed by seven local authorities, relates to the Mayor of London’s attempt to reduce the current 35% affordable housing quota in the London Plan without using the proper statutory process for amending that plan. It also relates to the lack of a fair consultation before the policy change was made, including a lack of evidence justifying the blanket reduction to 20% affordable housing in all London boroughs.”
It is right of course that no decision maker should treat the London Plan Guidance as a formal part of the development plan or in any way formally amending London Plan policy H5 (although in any event the supporting text to policy H5 anticipated some flex , albeit upwards: “The 35 per cent threshold level will be monitored and reviewed in 2021 to determine whether this threshold should be increased. Any changes to the threshold will be consulted on as part of an updated Affordable Housing and Viability SPG or through a focused review of the London Plan“). But isn’t it obvious that it is for the decision-maker to consider the requirements of policy H5 in the context of current circumstances and that the London Plan Guidance represents the Mayor of London’s guidance as to the weight that he currently considers should be applied to those 2021 thresholds versus the time-limited measures in the guidance? If that isn’t already abundantly clear, the Mayor could and should make it so. In that context, albeit with appropriate deference given that the authorities have not chosen to share to place their detailed grounds in the public domain, what really is the point of this litigation? What decision maker in the real world is going to misunderstand the position?
The question arises as to what developers should now be doing if they had previously been intending to rely on the London Plan Guidance. Should their strategy change in the light of the litigation? In my view, no. The Guidance is lawful unless and until quashed and, in any event, as mentioned, any decision-maker will surely be careful not to treat the Guidance as part of the development plan as opposed to advice (which they may or may not consider sensible) as to the weight which the Mayor considers should in the current economic climate be given to policy H5.
The judicial review is certainly an early indication as to the potential treatment by at least seven boroughs of applications which are promoted on the basis of the 20% time-limited route, meaning that applicants will need to consider whether to press on with a view to potential call-in by the Mayor (for schemes comprising 50 dwellings or more) or appeal to the Secretary of State or whether to proceed by way of the viability-tested route, accepting the need for a late-stage review mechanism. But I can’t see how those boroughs’ combative approach might conceivably result in more affordable housing being delivered. If you disagree, please explain.
What is Andy going to make of all this I wonder?
Simon Ricketts, 5 July 2026
Personal views, et cetera
SIMONICITY 