The London mayor will rip up the rules protecting green belt land in a bid to build almost a million much-needed new homes for Londoners.
Sir Sadiq Khan is promising a “radical change of approach” to the green belt, where most forms of development are forbidden, to help tackle the capital’s “pervasive and profound” housing crisis.
In a controversial speech, Sir Sadiq will hit out at what he says are myths that the green belt is “all beautiful countryside, green and pleasant land, rich with wildlife”.
“The reality is very different. The green belt can often be low-quality land, poorly maintained and rarely enjoyed by Londoners,” he will say on Friday.
Vowing to end the city’s housing crisis, the mayor will say that development in carefully chosen areas – done in the right way – will allow City Hall to unlock hundreds of thousands of good quality new homes for Londoners. Sir Sadiq said 88,000 new homes are needed in London each year for the next decade to meet the growing demand for housing.
London’s green belt, which covers more than a million acres of land spanning Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, has been in place since 1938. Its aim is to prevent urban sprawl and protect nature.
But Sir Sadiq will argue the status quo is out of date and unsustainable given the severity of London’s housing crisis.
Acknowledging that the change will prove controversial, he will add: “As mayor, I’m not willing to ignore such a prospect just because it might be politically difficult – not when the life chances of the next generation of Londoners are on the line.”
London’s housing crisis is deepening, with the cost of renting or buying in the capital spiralling. Median house prices since the turn of the century have grown twice as fast as wages in London, while private rents have increased 40 per cent in the last decade.
Boroughs across the capital spend £4m a day on temporary accommodation due to the lack of available council properties, while hundreds of thousands of people are on waiting lists for social housing.
More than 180,000 Londoners are living in this temporary accommodation, officially homeless – including 90,000 children, which is the equivalent of one homeless child in every classroom in London, according to City Hall officials.
Sir Sadiq will warn: “A generation of Londoners now simply can’t afford to rent, let alone buy a home.
“We have young professionals stuck living in their childhood bedrooms for years on end; Londoners having to endure cold, damp accommodation that isn’t fit for human habitation; couples reluctantly moving out of the capital to start a family; and London primary schools closing because young families have been priced out of the area.”
Despite the announcement opening Labour up to attack from environmental campaigners, Sir Sadiq was backed by Angela Rayner.
The deputy prime minister said: “We all know someone who has been affected by the acute and entrenched housing crisis we’ve inherited, and the picture in London is as stark as anywhere.
“That’s why the government welcomes the bold proposal announced by the mayor today, which rises to the challenge.”
And chief executive of the Generation Rent campaign group Ben Twomey said: “When housing costs are forcing too many of us into poverty and homelessness, it is right that the mayor sets out his ambition to build the homes we need, including in parts of the green belt where appropriate.”
