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![\"London\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Untitled-design-1-e1749297433790.png\" "\\"London\u2019s")
<\/p>\nThe Mayor of London\u2019s decision to slash affordability quotas for developers from 35 to 20 per cent was \u201cnot in a place any of us wanted to arrive at\u201d, the deputy Mayor for Housing has admitted.<\/p>\n
Tom Copley told the London Assembly yesterday (Thursday 4 December) that the capital\u2019s economic context was far different to when the current London Plan was devised in 2017.<\/p>\n
This was due to a \u201cperfect storm of challenges\u201d, including soaring interest rates and construction costs, that have seen affordable housing starts stagnate well below the Mayor\u2019s targets.<\/p>\n
Data from the Greater London Authority (GLA) shows that developers made just 1,239 starts on\u00a0affordable homes from April to September this year, compared to 3,991 in the whole of the last financial year.<\/p>\n
In response to London\u2019s performance, ministers struck a deal with Sir Sadiq Khan to implement an \u201cemergency housebuilding package\u201d that would involve a significant reduction in the requirement to qualify for fast-track planning status.<\/p>\n
The move has prompted significant concerns from the Mayor\u2019s City Hall opponents, including the Green Party\u2019s Zoe Garbett, who accused him of \u201cprotecting the profits of developers who got us into this mess\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms Garbett directly challenged Mr Copley over the issue yesterday, suggesting the GLA \u201cgave up too early\u201d and conceded to the wishes of major construction firms.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThe 35 per cent was meant to be the beginning, it was meant to be the first step, and this is a problem that predates the recent context.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more things that could have happened before we you know bow to the developers.<\/p>\n
The deputy Mayor responded: \u201cLet me be absolutely clear \u2013 this is not a place any of us wanted to arrive at.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think any of us on this panel wanted to be in a position where we have to lower affordable housing requirements. But the world we are in today is completely different from the world that we were in in 2017 when the 35 per cent threshold was created.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all very well saying we you know we should just stick to that, we should stick to 35 per cent, we should just wait it out. The Mayor and I were not willing to do that because to be to be clear, 20 per cent of something is better than 35 per cent of nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been really, really easy for us to wait and see if things get better \u2013 but the politically difficult thing to do was to go ahead and create the emergency package.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are any number of factors that come into play over the last five or six years, and the GLA and largely the government have no levers in which to move them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Copley said he wanted to stress that the new threshold was \u201ctemporary\u201d and that the government had allocated City Hall a \u00a3322million investment fund in the package, intended to accelerate housebuilding and unlock stalled sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is that we get as much new affordable development and therefore as much new affordable housing in in a brief period of time while we get the market going,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis hasn\u2019t replaced the 35 per cent rate \u2013 there\u00a0are still developers that we\u2019re working with who are actively sticking to that because the timing works for them and the short term measures don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Pipe said the concessions made in the emergency package were due to falling \u201cviability\u201d for developers to build in the capital.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a completely, different world,\u201d he told the London Assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big issue facing the GLA planning team for the next London plan is how we go forward in this economic context.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe primary aim of the plan\u00a0is to bring forward housing at volume, but also to bring housing forward that\u2019s of good quality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year the GLA and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) agreed to lower London\u2019s target for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) for 2021-2026 by over a fifth to between 17,800 and 19,000 starts.<\/p>\n
But with just 6,370 affordable homes started since the AHP was signed off in 2023, there are\u00a0major doubts as to whether City Hall will hit the revised target.<\/p>\n
In order to meet the Mayor\u2019s promise, developers will need to start on at least 11,430 affordable dwellings before March 2026.<\/p>\n
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