![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/01KWF0D4EMYT9YVH6HFS7RRPJV.jpg\")
\t\tThe heritage plans ‘could block skyscrapers and jobs’ (Jordan Pettitt\/PA Wire)\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tThursday 03 September 2026 2:37 pm
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThursday 03 September 2026 3:00 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tThe heritage plans ‘could block skyscrapers and jobs’ (Jordan Pettitt\/PA Wire)\t<\/p>\n
Plans to protect views of the Tower of London will cost the economy \u00a31.2bn in lost economic output every year, the City of London Corporation<\/a> has warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n Historic England, the government\u2019s heritage watchdog, is battling to secure a \u201clarger uninterrupted gap of clear sky\u201d between the medieval prison and the cluster of skyscrapers on the eastern edge of the Square Mile.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Tom Sleigh, the City of London Corporation\u2019s planning chairman, told City AM that curbs on construction near the Tower could \u201csterilise\u201d the area\u2019s economic output to the tune of \u00a31.2bn anually.<\/p>\n The Corporation\u2019s planning policy had been signed off last year, only to be called in for further scrutiny by housing minister Matthew Pennycook, over fears that it could threaten the Tower of London\u2019s status as a Unesco world heritage site.\u00a0<\/p>\n A planning inspector is considering Historic England\u2019s alternative plan, which proposes that nearby towers \u201clean away\u201d from the heritage site.\u00a0<\/p>\n The City Corporation has warned that the watchdog\u2019s plan could mean developers are unable to build as high as they would otherwise like to. These upper floors are often the most valuable, and end up making the entire development financially viable, Sleigh said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you start removing entire floors from potential schemes, you basically get rid of the profit margin. So no developer in their right mind would develop them,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Growth in every postcode\u2019<\/p>\n Historic England\u2019s plan could wipe out as many as 20 plans for skyscrapers in the east of the City. This would \u201cessentially sterilise [this] strip of land,\u201d costing 1m sq foot of office space, 6,800 jobs and \u00a31.2bn every year in economic output, Sleigh said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He continued: \u201c[This] suddenly starts to feel really significant when we have this national economic urgency that we need to help [to] try and find solutions to.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hear the government say \u2018growth in every postcode\u2019. I would say EC2 and the other postcodes in the City are rather important postcodes, and you shouldn\u2019t hold them back and stop them from growing.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tLabour\u2019s \u2018chaotic\u2019 zero-hour crackdown could cost firms \u00a33bn per year<\/a><\/p>\n The City\u2019s planning chief added that bigger curbs on office space could threaten the ability of the Square Mile to convince global companies to place their headquarters in the UK. <\/p>\n \u201cThe risk is we start losing them to competitive cities, because most of these international businesses don\u2019t have to choose London for their European headquarters. They can go anywhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Most of the high-rise buildings in the City are already concentrated in its eastern edges because of the legal requirement that views of St Paul\u2019s Cathedral are not blocked, Sleigh added.<\/p>\n Heritage plan \u2018would threaten growth\u2019<\/p>\n Office space in the Square Mile has reached record lows in recent years, prompting<\/a> City figures to urge the government to roll out emergency laws to encourage construction in the area.<\/p>\n