Insights from Women in Planning CPD: Delivering Homes in London

London’s Housing Delivery‍

Tim Craine, Founder and Director of Molior, presented data that was unambiguous. London’s development pipeline is reducing at pace, with the vast majority of the current pipeline completing by end of 2027 and very few new starts coming forward. Demand has fallen sharply with only 614 Londoners having bought a new home in Q1 and developers now competing with investor resales at significantly lower prices. This isn’t a cyclical dip. It is a structural demand shock already reshaping viability, funding and delivery.

‍

‍Emergency Measures  

Claire Mirfin, Partner at Pinsent Masons, outlined the Mayor’s emergency housing measures, designed to restart stalled schemes by easing specific policy requirements. These include reduced cycle parking, greater flexibility on dual aspect units, a temporary 20% affordable housing route, and proposed CIL reductions of 50% for schemes delivering at least 20% affordable housing on brownfield sites. The measures are intended as targeted, short-term interventions rather than a broader rewrite of the London Plan. It is expected that the London Plan guidance introduced this year will aim to make it cheaper to build, thus creating incentives to remove the structural demand shock Tim highlighted. However, the emergency measures diverge from policies H4-H6, and as a result boroughs have responded cautiously. For developers, the challenge is to identify where these changes genuinely unlock progress and where their practical impact may be limited.

This sits within a wider political context. In October 2025, the government and the Mayor agreed to reduce the affordable housing threshold from 35% to 20% to address stagnating delivery. London needs around 88,000 new homes a year, yet only 31,000 were delivered in 2024-25. The fast‑track route for schemes providing 20% affordable housing is intended to accelerate approvals, but it does not remove scrutiny on design, impact or policy alignment. Alongside this, expanded Mayoral planning powers have now come into effect, enabling the Mayor to call in applications where local planning authorities have refused schemes of 50 or more dwellings, all in the pursuit of getting London building again.

Planning Appeals

Emma Marakas, Legal Director at Pinsent Masons, highlighted a clear pattern emerging from recent appeals, with inspectors increasingly accepting that delivering 35% affordable housing is not currently viable in London. However, this does not mean schemes are automatically approved. While viability may justify lower affordable housing levels, it will not compensate for poor design, weak context or unresolved impacts. London currently makes up a third of the country’s housing numbers and a sustained reduction in delivery risks setting a precedent that ripples across the rest of the UK.  

Victoria Hutton, Barrister at 39 Essex Chambers, closed with the legal reality that the emergency measures are already under challenge. They conflict with the London Plan, and there is a live question about whether the Mayor has the power to issue them in their current form.  

Luminate’s View

It’s clear that the emergency measures are a response to a crisis, not a fix for it. While they can help move individual schemes forward, it’s crucial to remember that they rest on untested legal ground and so treating them as the backbone of a case is a not a solid strategy.

For those looking to bring an application forwards, the practical takeaway is that the 20% route should be regarded as an accelerant, not a foundation, and that the underlying application should be strong enough to survive without it. Inspectors are already accepting viability arguments below 35% affordable housing, but only where everything else such as design, context and impact holds up on its merits.