The July 2026 Draft London Plan introduces a considerable amount of new policy and, with it, a new planning vocabulary. SAM, BFOA, BLG, EOA, Location Band, Context Setting and Small Site Design Code. These will all become part of London’s planning language. Nobody will get far relying solely on their knowledge of the current Plan.

But is this really a change in direction or simply a reshuffling of the cards?

There are some interesting signals: 

• The tide appears to be turning on Green Belt land. 
• Industrial land could be released in appropriate circumstances. 
• The visitor economy has more room. 
• Higher densities are coming home. 
• And when it comes to data centres, it seems to be all systems go.

But what about housing?

The Draft Plan identifies around 558,000 homes over ten years, against the Government’s figure of around 850,000. That is quite a gap.

Delivering London’s housing needs is undoubtedly an enormous task. The Plan points to transport capacity, brownfield-first policy and supporting infrastructure as constraints on faster growth. But these are also matters that policy makers and agencies can influence.

If housing is the principal objective of the Plan, it is difficult not to conclude that it has started from a rather cautious position. The Plan feels, at times, somewhat apologetic about what it can deliver.

The new Optimisation Framework attempts to bring a more structured approach to housing density, something that has been lacking since the removal of the Density Matrix. But London is full of places that combine tall buildings with lower-level housing. The challenge will be avoiding another rigid approach to density when the capital is anything but uniform.

The same question applies to SAM2 and development management. Greater consistency is welcome, but planning will always require judgement and context. Will these tools improve decision-making or simply add to the planning vocabulary?

We also have ten-year and twenty-year horizons for some initiatives. Anyone in the business knows how long development takes, ; but kicking difficult decisions down the road means generations missing out.

The new interventionist measures are welcome, particularly the £11.7 billion of grant funding and the City Hall Developer Investment Fund. But the perfect storm facing housebuilders is not going away. Viability and affordable housing have been at a crossroads for years, while finance, construction costs, land values and infrastructure all continue to influence delivery.

These things take time, expertise and resourcing.

There is plenty to welcome in the Draft Plan, but plenty to test too. 

The Examination will be an important opportunity to bring a degree of realism to the Plan and, importantly, to its housing ambitions.