The G15 Residents’ Group has responded to the Mayor of London’s Draft London Plan consultation, welcoming its ambition to increase housing delivery while calling for residents to have a stronger role in shaping the future of their homes and communities.
The Group supports the Plan’s focus on delivering more genuinely affordable homes, protecting existing social housing and improving building safety, accessibility and sustainability.
However, its central message is that residents must have meaningful opportunities to influence planning decisions from the outset, with clear accountability for how their views are reflected in the final proposals.
The Group states in its response: “A London Plan that works well for Londoners cannot simply plan for residents. It must plan with residents.”
Putting residents at the heart of planning
The Group has set out a series of recommendations to strengthen the final London Plan, including:
- Stronger resident participation: Establishing a consistent London-wide approach to resident involvement, ensuring people can influence decisions about development, regeneration and their neighbourhoods from the earliest stages.
- Measuring what improves residents’ lives: Introducing a London Resident Outcomes Framework to assess housing quality, affordability, safety, wellbeing and community stability alongside housing delivery figures.
- More genuinely affordable housing: Prioritising Social Rent and considering the full cost of living in a home, including rent, service charges and energy bills.
- Greater influence over regeneration: Giving residents a meaningful role in decisions about the future of their estates, including design, rehousing arrangements, rights to return and the protection of existing communities.
- Recognising the value of social housing: Treating social housing as essential social and economic infrastructure that supports London’s workforce, prevents homelessness and helps sustain communities.
- Building trust and accountability: Ensuring transparency, resident confidence and meaningful engagement are central to planning decisions, particularly those affecting building safety and neighbourhood change.
The response also calls for greater recognition of residents’ expertise in shaping inclusive neighbourhoods and tackling the stigma associated with social housing.
Measuring success through residents’ experiences
The Group believes the success of the London Plan should ultimately be judged by the experiences of the people living in London’s homes and neighbourhoods.
It is calling on the Mayor and Greater London Authority to work with residents to develop stronger participation standards and a clear framework for measuring resident outcomes.
The Group remains committed to working with policymakers, housing providers and local authorities to ensure London’s future growth delivers lasting benefits for the people and communities who call the city home.