5 September 2011: The Mayor last week launched a consultation with the London Assembly on initial proposals for a revised London Housing Strategy.
The Mayor’s first Housing Strategy was only finalised in February 2010. However, the GLA’s website reports that as “there have been major changes to the allocation of government funding for housing and there are significant changes proposed in the Localism Bill, including significant new housing and regeneration powers for the Mayor… a number of areas have been identified where change is needed, and a revised housing strategy is being produced.” The consultation however does go on to state that this “document presents the Mayor’s initial policies and proposals for a new strategy and is not, therefore, a full draft housing strategy. As the current strategy was published only last year, this document focuses on those areas where there will be significant change; the fact that something from the current strategy is not mentioned does not mean it is not still important or will not appear in the new one. This document should therefore be read in conjunction with the 2010 strategy document.”
The consultation states that the 2010 Strategy “contained a large number of policies on design and green issues. Most of those relating to design, including the key environmental policies relating to new homes, are now part of the design guide. Policies on greening existing homes included in the 2010 Strategy will similarly be incorporated into the Mayor’s new single London environmental strategy.”
The only comments in the initial proposals document in relation to improving the energy efficiency homes relate to the Mayor’s proposals to:
- ensure that new homes will be built to higher design standards and a minimum of Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) Level 4
- set out his policies on greening existing homes in the forthcoming single environmental strategy.
The timeline for Strategy is consultation with the Assembly by 28 October2011; this will be followed by a public consultation version of the full draft of the new London Housing Strategy towards the end of the year, with a final proposed draft submitted by the Mayor to the Secretary of State in mid-2012.