Time to build homes on the green belt, Sadiq Khan says in major strategy pivot
Sir Sadiq Khan is to call for homes to be built on London’s green belt in a major strategic shift on housing policy.
In a speech on Friday, the mayor of London is to announce that City Hall will “actively explore” releasing parts of the green belt in a bid to bring an end to the capital’s chronic housing shortage.
Work to build homes on brownfield sites “will not be enough to meet our needs,” Khan will say.
“Given the quality of parts of London’s green belt and the extent of the housing crisis, I believe the status quo is wrong, out of date and simply unsustainable.
“Development on carefully chosen parts of the green belt – done in the right way – would allow us to unlock hundreds of thousands of good quality new homes for Londoners.
“This would not only go a long way to ending the housing crisis but provide a huge boost to our economy.”
Watering down green belt policy a bold move
The proposal, one of the boldest in London housing policy in recent years, is likely to attract fierce criticism from campaigners and pressure groups keen to preserve the boundaries of urban London and protect green space.
London’s metropolitan green belt, a ring of open space free from development around the capital, became law in the Green Belt Act of 1938 and was expanded in the 1950s as planners fretted over the prospect of urban sprawl. But the boundaries to Europe’s biggest city have added constraints to its ability to grow amid a rising population, helping to push up housing prices to the point of unaffordability for many.
In a bid to placate concerns, Khan insisted that he would “attach the right conditions” to any release of green belt land for development to “maximise the level of affordable housing”, vowing to “increase biodiversity and the amount of land that is genuinely affordable” at the same time.
The plan comes with Khan facing increased pressure over lacklustre rates of housebuilding in the capital in the first months of the mayor’s third term in office.
Fewer than 1,000 affordable homes were built in the capital in each of the final three quarters of 2024, well short of targets, figures which shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake called a “catastrophic” rate of progress, demonstrating that Sir Sadiq was “not fit for purpose” as mayor.