Lewisham joins legal challenge to affordable housing quota cut

Lewisham Council has joined Tower Hamlets, Hackney and four other London councils in a legal challenge opposing the new policy from London Mayor Sadiq Khan, which reduces the percentage of affordable housing developers are required to build.

The councils have jointly filed a claim for a Judicial Review of Khan's decision to adopt the Time Limited Route (TLR) “emergency” measures.

The new measures mean that developers proposing housing schemes with 20% affordable housing no longer have to provide evidence to justify such low levels; this has been reduced from the previous threshold of 35%. 

Khan adopted the emergency measures policy in March, following pressure from all political parties and from the government over the low levels of construction of homes in the capital.  

Lewisham has filed the claim with Hackney council, which is also now Green Party controlled and Tower Hamlets, which has been run by Aspire since 2022.

The challenge is being supported by four more Green-led London councils - Lambeth, Southwark, Waltham Forest and Haringey.

Of the seven councils challenging Sadiq Khan all but one – Tower Hamlets – were Labour controlled in the run up to May’s elections.

The recent change in political composition of so many councils in London was highlighted by Zoë Garbett, Green mayor of Hackney who said: “The mayor of London is no longer surrounded by councils willing to sign off any developer-driven decision he wants to make.” 

Before the change, London’s planning policy set out that developers should include 35% “affordable housing” in their housing schemes, with affordable housing covering social rent, London Affordable Rent, London Living Rent and shared ownership.

The emergency powers for London were launched jointly by Sadiq Khan and the housing minister, Steve Reed in March.

Khan said he was “taking the tough decisions to get these much-needed homes built”. 

Steve Reed, who is also MP for Streatham and Croydon North and a former Labour leader of Lambeth Council said: “This decisive action will turn plans on paper into thousands of new homes in our capital, with a clear message to developers to get on and build.

"We’re kickstarting London housebuilding so more Londoners can rent or own a home that is genuinely affordable.”

The councils' legal challenge is based on detrimental impacts that the mayor of London's policy would have on their ability to deliver the highest levels of affordable housing.

They also cite lack of fair consultation about the policy and the a lack of evidence justifying its adoption.

Liam Shrivastava, Lewisham mayor, said: “London is in an unprecedented housing crisis, and private developers have a duty to play a role in supporting our city. It would be totally wrong to allow their profit to go unchecked while thousands of people are on councils’ housing waiting lists ..

“While we understand the challenge the Mayor of London faces in terms of a stalled house building market and a developer-led model that is broken, he has provided no justification for these changes, which will undoubtedly reduce the number of affordable homes built in London. 

 “In Lewisham, we’re not anti-development – far from it; we want to work with responsible developers, that are respectful of our communities and make a positive difference.  To do that, we need the planning system to support the delivery of more, not less, of the affordable homes our communities need.”

There are 10,500 households on Lewisham council’s housing waiting list and 2,450 households living in temporary accommodation.

A spokesperson for the mayor of London told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We can confirm that a claim for Judicial Review has been issued against the GLA. As legal proceedings are ongoing, we are unable to comment further at this stage.”

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