CITY HALL CONSERVATIVES CALL FOR A HALT TO HIGHRISES IN LONDON IN NEW REPORT

Andrew Boff AM has today published a new report calling on the Mayor of London to prioritise family housing in London amid a surge in highrise developments, many of which are set to be built on parks and green spaces across the city.

The report, Uncrowded Houses, examines how housing need in London has changed in a way which the market and construction has not reflected. In it, Andrew Boff explores the concept of “laddering”, whereby building family-sized homes helps families living in cramped housing move into larger, size-appropriate properties, resultantly freeing up smaller properties for smaller families, students, and young professionals as a result. Building a six bed property solves the housing need of as many as 36 Londoners as a result of this “laddering”, as opposed to just solving the housing need of 1 Londoner by building a 1 bed flat.

Uncrowded Houses comes at a time when the new London Plan is set to propose 56,000 units be built on greenbelt land, which City Hall Conservatives say will mean parks and green spaces across the capital. As the target is focused on “units” rather than “bedrooms”, developers are incentivised to build as many 1 or 2 bed properties as they can, often stacked on top of one another in inappropriate highrises, rather than building the family housing that London needs.

Worse still, under the new reforms to planning powers, the Mayor of London will be the sole authority on signing off developments of more than 50 units - further incentivising developers to pile additional flats onto their plans in order to bypass local authorities and voters. Combined, Andrew Boff AM fears that these factors could see tower blocks sprout up on parks and green spaces across the city as developers continue to push families out of the capital.

Andrew Boff AM said:

“This is really, really worrying. London’s population fell for the first time in decades last year, and families are leaving the capital en masse because they cannot afford the housing they need. Meanwhile, planning changes to enable developers to bulldoze green spaces, and circumvent local councils - elected by residents - to put up developments look set to throw up tens of thousands of unsuitable properties which will not solve the issue. We need to stop building these highrises and start building the family homes that Londoners really need. I hope the Mayor will read my report and join our campaign to save London’s green spaces.”

Uncrowded Houses, A Report by Andrew Boff AM.pdf

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