London councils permit ‘lower-quality’ affordable homes

Nearly two-thirds of London boroughs have local plans which permit developers to provide lower quality homes for use by affordable housing tenants.

New research published by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) says 60% of London boroughs do not have policies which ensure developments are “tenure blind” – meaning that homes for sale and affordable rent are indistinguishable.

The report, entitled “London: Planning for a Just City?”, also found that 57% of councils don’t require the like-for-like re-provision of affordable housing in redevelopment schemes, and less than a third have a target to provide a proportion of the most affordable “social rent” housing.

In addition, well over two-thirds of councils have policies which permit gated developments in their areas.

The TCPA said that a number of councils interviewed for the research, which also covered the City of London Corporation and the two Mayoral Development Corporations, said central government policies such as the expansion of permitted development rights, were undermining what policies they did have in place.

Laura Heykoop, Projects and Policy Manager at the TCPA, said: “The research shows that the majority [of London councils] are failing to develop planning policy that goes far enough in challenging poverty and inequality.”

“Further to this, processes imposed by government such as viability assessments and the use of permitted development rights then undermine local authorities’ ability to turn even strong and ambitious policies into a reality.”