Framing the next chapter: Towards a new London plan

The next London Plan will set out a framework for how London will develop over the next 23 years (2027-2050). Its early consultation document, Towards a new London Plan (May 2025), outlines the ambitions of the Next London Plan and puts forward the policy ideas through which they propose to achieve these aims.

These policies will, in due course, help shape and determine development proposals for all planning applications across Greater London. 

The focus is firmly set on housing delivery, particularly within the next ten years (to 2037). However, alongside this, the Plan will consider infrastructure, employment, green space, and climate goals.

AMBITIOUS HOUSING TARGETS
The Government has said London needs 88,000 new homes a year over the next decade to meet demand, which is more than double the recent delivery rates and a level last seen in the 1920s/1930s with the raid expansion of the suburbs. The next London Plan will plan for 880,000 new homes, ten years’ supply. 
We must also plan for the workspaces and infrastructure needed for London’s economic growth.

THE CURRENT LONDON PLAN AND NATIONAL POLICY
Since the 2021 Plan, major changes have reshaped the planning landscape, most notably the 2020 Use Classes Order, which consolidated many former use classes (A1, A2, A3, B1, D1, D2) into the new Class E. This meant planning consent was no longer needed for a change of use from light industrial (B1c) to a café (A3), for example.

Although these changes pre-date the 2021 London Plan, its policies were devised before the new Use Classes were introduced. As a result, councils have seen a reduced ability to guide high street uses or protect space for specific business types.
In April 2021, the Government expanded Permitted Development Rights (PDR) to allow conversion from Class E to residential use without planning consent. This move was deemed controversial by some, and several London boroughs have withdrawn these rights to better protect their commercial base.

ONGOING PLANNING CHANGES
The next Plan will be shaped by ongoing national reforms. The Government continues to pursue planning reform, notably with the Planning and Infrastructure bill and changes to the planning committee process, which will influence both the development and implementation of the next London Plan. 

Any changes to national policy, housing targets, or new Development Management Policies will override London Plan policies.

EXPLORING POLICY PROPOSALS AS THEY DEVELOP
This document brings together insights from experts across Knight Frank to examine some of these policy proposals in more detail, exploring how some of these policies could work in practice, what impact they may have on housing deliveries, the high street, industrial land supply, and the environmental future of the capital. 

What further considerations are needed, and what opportunities or challenges could these changes offer up?