London Assembly may rubber stamp the London Plan this week

Thank you for signing the petition against the London Plan and sorry for the long delay in updating you about what is happening.

Campaign groups in London are seeking legal advice about challenging the London Plan in the courts if it is adopted - we believe we have strong grounds to challenge it.

The London Plan still has to be adopted by the London Assembly, who can reject it by a two thirds majority.  The Mayor is indicating that he will present the London Plan to the Assembly Members at City Hall this week on Thursday 6th February at 10am. 

We have sent a formal letter of complaint about the Mayor rushing the Plan through without giving the public time to communicate with their Assembly Members.  We have asked for this meeting to be postponed.  However, if it does go ahead, it is open to the public, so please come along.  The address is: Chamber, City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2AA.  If you have any queries please email meenakshi.oneworld@gmail.com

The Assembly Members are meant to be representing Londoners at City Hall.  They should know that Londoners do not want this new London Plan.  We want a Plan that works for Londoners, rather than one that prioritizes profits for landowners, developers and investors.  The mayoral and Assembly elections will be in May this year.  We do not want people at City Hall who do not represent us!   

Please email the Assembly Members, particularly those that represent  your area and tell them they should reject this London Plan.  

Here is a template of a letter you can cut, paste and adapt to send to the Assembly Members

4 February 2020

Dear Greater London Assembly Member,

Please question and reject the new London Plan on 6 February 2020

We are Londoners.  On 6 February 2020, the GLA will be considering the Mayor’s draft new London Plan before the GLA has received the Secretary of State’s formal response to the Plan.  The SofS has stated by letter that he will provide his response on or by 17 February, so the 6 February debate is procedurally unfair and irrational as Assembly Members should have an opportunity to study the response before debating the Plan.  We question the logic and lawfulness of this 6 February decision and urge Assembly Members to defer the decision to the 6 March meeting or later.

Many community groups, including Just Space, challenged the Plan’s deficiencies during the EiP.  If the debate goes ahead on 6 February, many of us would like you to consider some key criticisms of the Plan.  Specifically, the draft London Plan is inadequate and needs changes because it:

·         Deepens inequalities and poverty.

·         Fails the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) under the Equality Act 2010 by failing to eliminate discrimination from the outset of the planning process and throughout the Plan’s many revisions. If the Mayor had considered the PSED properly – and the duty to consult those groups properly - he would have had some chance of achieving the ‘Good Growth’ he favours.

·         Falls short on the environment, with weak approaches to climate change and bio-diversity.

·         Fails to meet the requirements of the UK Habitats Directive in concluding that the London Plan will not have adverse impacts on Natura 2000 sites, and the last minute removal without consultation of Policy G6 C(3) which required Boroughs in their development plans to provide net biodiversity gain when harm to a SINC is unavoidable.

·         Prioritises property and financial interests in the development of the city, at the expense of low- and middle-income Londoners.

·         Fails to adequately consider alternative strategies or options, for example the Just Space community-led plan of 2016.  (Just Space is a London-wide network of neighbourhood, community organisations and campaigns which came together ten years ago to support one other in participating in the London planning process and responding to the London Plan).

·         Uses a mistaken approach to housing based on maximising total housing numbers, rather than maximising the stock of council/social and low-rent housing which is a priority.  This will worsen the backlog of unmet housing need and exacerbate homelessness and ignores current research – see also the recent Reports of Assembly members Tom Copley and Sian Berry.

·         Fails to adequately protect SME businesses and jobs and services in London’s industrial areas, especially in local markets, high streets and town centres as land is switched to produce yet more expensive homes.  This failing makes the economy less robust, increases the need to travel and has discriminatory effects on many groups with “protected characteristics”.

·         Fails to provide sustainable ways of paying for social and physical infrastructure without cutting the provision of low-rent housing, thus contributing to unsupportable increases in housing density and land price inflation, especially in Opportunity Areas.

·         Fails to devise transparent and democratic mechanisms for the designation, planning and implementation of Opportunity Areas.

Yours sincerely,

THIS LONDON PLAN MUST BE REJECTED!