Towards a New London Plan is the GLA’s (the Mayor’s) first public document in the long-delayed process of developing a new version of the London Plan. Download from GLA There is also a page which details the background and the GLA’s programme for the preparation of the new Plan https://consult.london.gov.uk/towards-a-new-london-plan-consultation
There is also a slide show which GLA people are using during this consultation. The deputy mayor for planning, Jules Pipe, made a video just before consultations closed summarising responses so far. Very vacuous stuff. Video here and transcript here.
The consultation period has ended. Just Space has responded with a detailed critique which you can download here, backed up by an alternative plan for a caring city.
Stop Press: in late September the GLA has published an EasyRead version of Towards… and responses can be made up to 2 November. Many of the issues are posed in a more open or constructive way than in the original. Members are encouraged to respond. https://consult.london.gov.uk/towards-a-new-london-plan-in-easy-read
This is a landing page where you can find all the Just Space material on this document and the consultation about it which closed on 22 June 2025. We shall add responses made by our members when we get them and others which are of interest.
We wrote to ask when the responses will be on the GLA web site. Lisa Fairmaner, head of the London Plan, replied:
“Responses will not be published for some time and will not necessarily be until the draft London Plan is published in 2026.“
Other responses to the consultation
London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies
London Forum short version
Hayes Community Forum (transport)
LSE London, Ian Gordon
Michael Edwards UCL (personal submission)
Highbury Group on Housing Delivery (Duncan Bowie)
Dr Anna Pagani
London Councils
Home Builders Federation HBF (James Stephens)
London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee (letter)
LSE Grantham Institute on Climate Change Highlights and download
Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum
Climate Emergency Camden
POP Protect Our Places
If you or your organisation made a submission, please send it to m.edwards at ucl dot ac dot uk so we can add it to this list for downloading.
Our 6 May posting just before publication: https://justspace.org.uk/2025/05/06/at-last-a-london-plan-process/
This is a slide show which GLA staff are using during this consultation
https://justspace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Towards-a-new-London-Plan-GLA-Slide-Pack.pdf
We (held) a conference on 14 June to draw together members’ responses and plan a Just Space collective response. Just Space prepared a first digest of the Towards… document. Download it here. It was designed to start and inform discussions among member groups.
Discussion notes for 14 June (downloads)
Overall strategy
Caring City
Economy
Housing
Transport
Equaity
Health
Environment
Key Just Space publications
2016 Towards a community-led London Plan: policy directions and proposals,
This 74 page intervention is the outcome of discussion by working teams of JustSpace organisations Download: Just Space A4 Community-Led London Plan
2017 Community Alternative strategy submitted to GLA for evaluation as part of their assessment (but later rejected)
2018 JustSpace response to the consultation on the draft London Plan (all topics)
https://justspace.org.uk/2018/02/24/london-plan-write-now/
2019 Final outcome of Just Space interventions on Equality Impact in the Public Examination of the last London Plan https://justspace.org.uk/2019/04/28/actual-equalities-study-at-last/
2022 Community-led recovery plan for London Prepared during the lockdowns by small groups of community activists and later presented to the London Assembly Planning Committee. Download the recovery plan: https://justspace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/recovery-plan-4-april.pdf
April 2024 Just Space Manifesto 2024 Downloads here. Prepared for the Mayor and Assembly elections but then used in the general election that year.
2025 Contributions from the Fairville London Lab as presented to Just Space members in March.
Press and other commentary
Hyphen: article on shockingly low council approvals of council home development (national) from Pat Turnbull https://hyphenonline.com/2025/05/19/half-councils-approve-no-council-housing-social-rent-labour-six-months/
Update 24 May. We just heard that some invitations have gone out for round table discussions at City Hall with some individuals during June. If you get such an invitation do please let us know at Contact and Join
At a professional meeting on 15 May a member of the London Plan team confirmed that there will be both a SHMA (market assessment) and a SHLAA (development capacity assessment). He added that there were focus groups on the housing needs of sub-groups of the population. The GLA was also using population and household projections and rental price projections. To a question about whether the research is being done in-house, he said yes but that there would be no separate social survey work as the English Housing Survey and population projections would be used.
Andrew Derbyshire, chair of the London Forum, reports on a presentation by GLA on 13 May https://www.bdonline.co.uk/opinion/will-the-next-london-plan-rise-to-the-citys-real-challenges/5136298.article
Peter Eversden of the London Forum of Civic and Amenity Societies gave this short talk at the London Planning and Development Forum: