NLA expert panel chairs suggest a range of priorities for London for new ministers to consider as part of New London Agenda.

The Government should scrap VAT for refurbishments, invest fully in planning departments and fund more transport and energy infrastructure projects in order to unlock housing in London and beyond.

Those were just some of the suggestions made by NLA expert panellists in a special meeting convened last week to come up with solid proposals to take to ministers in the coming months.

The session was coordinated by NLA chairman and former chairman of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation Michael Cassidy who said he was keen to elicit ‘brilliant ideas’ to take to Kit Malthouse and the (current) housing minister Marcus Jones. But there was disquiet among some that government may abandon its commitments to housing and net-zero targets.

Louise Duggan of the GLA said that government should recognize the need to level up within London but also recognise that things like the CAZ can be the ‘engine for growth’, ‘so we grow the pie rather than slice ever smaller slices from the pie’. The capital needs certainty and consistency, Duggan added, along with ‘mature devolution’ that allows things to be done even with the current ‘power vacuum’ in Whitehall. But the biggest pinch point on housing, she said, was over infrastructure needs; this was where big growth areas could be unlocked.

Jonny Popper of London Communications Agency said that there will likely be a substantial reshuffle once the Conservative leader and Prime Minister are chosen; in the meantime, we are experiencing a ‘particular state of flux’. Popper suggested London is ‘more at risk' from Liz Truss than Rishi Sunak, however, and that it was crucial that we hear what government intends to do on planning reforms, the original proposals for which from Robert Jenrick generated 30,000 responses. ‘Our number one ask is for some certainty over what government intends to do on planning reform, and funding of the sector, particularly planning departments’, he said. It should also be stressed that London is also different from other parts of the country, Popper added, and needs a different approach on things like zoning and street votes, the latter of which would be ‘worrying for the industry’. The London Plan should also have primacy on matters like housing targets, he added. 

Stuart Baillie of Knight Frank agreed, emphasizing his concern that the PM candidates might move away from housing targets, something he felt was important in both the South East context as well as in London’s. Housing delivery is being impacted negatively because of price inflation – the price of brick has gone up 30% in the last six months alone – along with the drive for building safety, zero carbon and affordable housing requirement. More flexibility was perhaps required to look at viability considerations to unlock some unimplemented permissions.

Heather Cheesbrough of LB Croydon pointed to the need for more and better infrastructure, welcoming the news that there may be an agreement around the corner with TfL ‘That is absolutely critical to us’, she said. ‘We cannot fund any transport infrastructure if TfL has not sorted out their funding agreement’. Specifically, a bottleneck north of East Croydon station is affecting the region and indeed, the nation – a scheme sponsored by the DfT would bring ‘immense regional and local benefits including housing delivery and will be a catalyst for further regeneration’, she said. It would also help suburban areas improve their PTAL levels and intensification, and to enjoy much better connectivity and therefore help with housing delivery locally, as well as all down the line down to Brighton. ‘Infrastructure has to be invested in, otherwise, you can forget about housing targets’, Cheesbrough added. The general planning system needs to be made quicker, too, said Cheesbrough.

Other points raised included by Rob McNicol of the City of London around sustainable development, squaring the circle of fire safety, tall buildings, the use of timber in construction and how we’re going to support circular economy techniques. ‘Government have largely kicked the can down the road on this for a very long time’, he said, calling for funded research and development to happen ‘at some serious pace’. Penoyre & Prasad’s Mark Rowe said we are starting to be left behind by cities including Copenhagen, Seattle, Vancouver, San Francisco in terms of timber buildings and embodied carbon, and that, again, more investment in planning departments is key to bringing them more capacity.

In retail, said James Mitchell of Axiom Architects, voids are a big problem – it is predicted that 300 million square feet of space will be oversubscribed by 2030. ‘We really need to shine a spotlight on what's happening with our high streets and obviously, that links very much to housing’, he said. Problems include fragmented ownership and a lack of visions that explore stewardship, management and sustainability, so the focus must be on suffering high streets, Mitchell added. Retail conversions into residential, particularly with shopping centres, were a possibility, as long as complementary mixes are found, with good lessons to be found in Europe away from the ‘linear’ UK approach.

Simon Lea from Levitt Bernstein, standing in for Jo McCafferty, said quality is key in converting commercial to residential, as is access to amenities, schools and so on. But the affordability problem in housing is getting worse, said Lea, with uncertainty around funding, particularly in social housing. There are also ‘huge burdens’ in terms of getting to net zero and the prospect that some regeneration schemes are likely to ‘run into the sand’ because they are only focused on adding new homes and because of the drive to demolish less and refurbish more being outside current funding models’. Retrofit is the big elephant in the room, Lea added, on funding and delivery.

‘Why don’t we drop VAT on retrofit?’, asked Ben Marston of the education group. ‘We know this is a challenge in all sectors, but education costs more to start doing works to retrofit a building than it does to build new, and this is a real problem that extends across all sectors’. Education had been hit by around 700,000 foreign-born nationals leaving because of Brexit and Covid, resulting in a shortage of school places pivoting quickly to a surplus, and a knock-on negative impact on how those schools are funded. The panel recommended that once a site is designated for educational uses it remain so – even perhaps being repurposed for adult education or early years - unless there are special circumstances. Redundant retail spaces could also be converted more for adult education uses, especially as more people will be changing jobs, capitalising on the sites’ highly accessible nature. But the majority of schools in the country need to be significantly refurbished or rebuilt, Marston added. ‘There’s a condition crisis in schools – that’s the biggest single issue’.

In the logistics sector, said Tom Alexander, fewer sites are being offered for residential but in London, it remains ‘very, very hard’ to find spare industrial sites and there is a perception issue about having apartments near industrial. And although people can be moved across the capital easily, goods and services are a different story, resulting in ‘grating’ between cyclists and industrial vehicles for example. London could use the river better on this, for example, Alexander suggested, since one barge takes 24 HGVs off the road. Other arteries like the old Royal Mail Well Line – an old tunnel – could be explored, while the cargo bike is also disrupting the white van culture. ‘The Elizabeth line is fantastic for people’, said Alexander. ‘We just need something for goods as well.’

Arita Morris urged that government should not abandon the zero-carbon strategy and adopt a long-term strategy. ‘If London is to be a liveable city, it must also be a sustainable city’, she said. A coordinated approach was necessary within the government to address issues facing construction, helping contractors and developers to upskill and invest in R&D on timber-framed buildings.

Katrina Kostic Samen said the priority for offices was better transportation for people to make it financially viable to come in. ‘Ultimately London will be the epicentre of UK regeneration if we can get the transport right if we can get the commute right’, she said.

For Ian Rae of Waltham Forest, there were significant health inequalities across his borough, along with high unemployment rates and areas of deprivation, all of which could be helped by better infrastructure, again. ‘The real ask from the government is funding that infrastructure’, he said, pointing particularly to the shovel-ready £800m Whipps Cross hospital and improvements to Walthamstow Central and Leyton tube stations in the borough. Both offer an ability to unlock new homes.

Finally, Ashley Bateson of Hoare Lea said there is not enough capacity and technical skills in local and central government to deal with sustainability and net zero carbon issues. ‘Developers have told me that they would gladly pay more for the planning process to have a more resourced and intelligent interaction, with some assurance of the way things are going than the current state of under-resourced departments’, he said. One specific proposal, moreover, was that permitted development be allowed for commercial and residential refurbishments that extend a storey height - provided they meet certain conditions – to accelerate remodelling of existing buildings.