London Plan 2011 PDF 1 MB - Lambeth Council

The London Plan July 2011 – RTF version
detailed questions of investment and delivery for which he has particular
responsibility).
3.14 With a growing population and more households, delivering more homes for
Londoners meeting a range of needs, of high design quality and supported by
the social infrastructure essential to a good quality of life will be a particular
priority over the period covered by the Plan. This section of the Plan brings
together policies on housing requirements and supply (including affordable
housing), design and quality. It also covers social infrastructure, such as
health, education and sports.
London’s housing requirements
3.15 Though there are differences in the type, quality and cost of housing across
London, the complex linkages between them mean that for planning
purposes, London should be treated as a single housing market. Many of
these linkages extend beyond London, underscoring the importance of interregional
coordination in meeting housing requirements in the wider south
east, especially in the adjoining counties.
3.16 With population set to increase by 1.3 million in the 25 years to 2031, and
average household size declining from 2.34 persons/household to 2.19, the
number of households in London could rise by 0.9 million 30 . This
approximates to 34,000 additional households a year. However, these figures
do not represent the growth in housing requirements over the life of the
Plan. This is identified through the GLA’s 2008 Strategic Housing Market
Assessment (SHMA) 31 which informs both the London Plan and the Mayors
Housing Strategy 32 . As well as demographic trends the SHMA reflects the
Mayor’s intention to address the existing backlog in housing need over ten
years and takes account of a range of factors including the extent of
voluntary sharing by single person households.
3.17 Both the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment/Housing Capacity
Study (SHLAA/HCS) and the SHMA have their own particular purpose and
internal logic which this Plan seeks to reconcile. The SHMA balances
different elements of the housing stock against the changing requirements of
the different types of household in London. If, as the SHMA suggests, a
possible surplus of larger dwellings is netted off, this produces a requirement
for 32,600 dwellings per annum (pa) taking into account likely flows between
different elements of the stock. The SHLAA, however, identifies the potential
for additional new units to this stock – 32,210 dwellings pa.
3.18 While the 32,600 dwellings pa figure is a sound basis for showing the net
requirement for housing taking into account the flows between different
elements of the stock, a more appropriate requirement comparator to be set
against the SHLAA based figure of 32,210 is the SHMA’s 34,900 total
requirement figure (this does not ‘net off’ the translation of notionally
surplus, large dwellings to small units through conversion). This 34,900
figure (which includes meeting the backlog of need over 10 years) is therefore
30 GLA. Joint Strategy Evidence Base. GLA, 2009
31 Mayor of London. London’s Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA). GLA, 2009
32 Mayor of London. The London Housing Strategy (LHS). GLA, 2010
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