A further 1.7 million people are predicted to join the housing market in the next 20 years.  But government is failing to increase the rate of house building in the capital. Currently nearly a million people a day are commuting into London to work. Families are being forced to seek cheaper housing outside London and developers are responding by seeking planning permission on green field sites in the counties around London and in the Green Belt.

In response CPRE London has been canvassing expert opinion and people who live in London about how they see the way forward. The results are published in a report Towards a Liveable London, in which we say we want:

• Families and lower paid key workers to be able to live in London

• Planners and developers to work together to build communities not just estates

• Local people involved in how and where they live

CPRE London does not believe that urban sprawl and low density garden communities are the answer to London’s housing needs. Instead it recommends the pursuit of better housing options in London which would reduce the desire and need for people to move out of the capital and also preserve green space outside.

The London Mayor has said we need to build 42,000 houses a year to meet current and future needs. At the moment only half that number is being built. And not only do we need more homes, we need more affordable homes, especially for low-paid key workers. Average house prices in London are now 14 times annual salaries and rents too are rising to unaffordable levels. The Mayor’s new “Housing Zones” and proposed brownfield subsidies, if delivered, may go part of the way towards enabling large and small developers to deliver the homes we need.

We argue for building at higher densities, especially in the suburbs, with a good mix of tenures, intelligent design, access to transport, high streets, schools, green spaces and community facilities. We have to avoid the mistakes of the past when whole streets and communities were destroyed and municipal tower blocks were thought to be the answer for social housing. The rebuilding of the failed Ferrier Estate at what is now Kidbrooke Village (Greenwich), one of our case studies, demonstrates it is possible to increase overall densities without building tower blocks while also improving building design and increasing green spaces. Many of the residents of new housing developments stressed to us the importance of access to open space, particularly for young families.

The report also emphasises the need for greater citizen involvement in both the production of local and neighbourhood plans and the design and management of new and regenerated estates. This includes greater support for alternative housing models, such as cooperatives and community land trusts.

“In order to stop the sprawl of houses into our countryside and the erosion of the Green Belt and green spaces in and around London, we must build better. The land is there, but it requires creative solutions to release it. With an election only a year away and the parties writing their manifestos, now is the time to get this right” said John Croxen, the branch chairman.

A copy of the report is available to download here.