London is on track to deliver just 4,800 new homes this year, barely 5.5% of the annual 88,000-home target. With 4.3 million homes left unbuilt across the UK and home ownership out of reach for many, the need for a new approach is clear.
After years of rejecting any move on the green belt, Mayor Sadiq Khan has now shifted position. His administration will “actively explore” developing parts of London’s green belt which is a sharp reversal from his long-standing claim that brownfield land could meet demand alone. With private housing starts down 44% and affordable starts down 84% in the past year, the numbers have made that argument unjustified.
The consultation draft of the new London Plan sets a headline target of 88,000 new homes annually, a third of the national goal. But hitting that figure will take more than planning permissions. There are around 200,000 unbuilt homes in designated Opportunity Areas, underscoring the gap between ambition and delivery.
The new London Plan still leans on brownfield land but acknowledges that more is needed. It calls for higher-density schemes, quicker approvals, and site allocations that reflect where development is viable, rather than politically convenient. It also suggests more flexibility on affordable housing thresholds and explores models like build-to-rent and co-living to increase supply.
London’s population has grown by 1.5 million in the past 20 years and is expected to rise by another million during the Plan period. The overriding feeling is that this shift in approach, while significant, still needs to go further to meet the scale of demand and support the capital’s economic future. Just 5.2% of green belt land around cities could deliver 1.4 million homes. London’s green belt is more than three times the size of the city itself, much of it low-quality and inaccessible. Unlocking even a fraction could make a difference.
