The Ealing Council's Local Development Plan Advisory Committee met to discuss the terms of reference for the committee, the new London Plan, and planning reforms designed to speed up building.

Terms of Reference and Future Items

The Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) was scheduled to discuss its purpose and consider future items for discussion. According to the report pack, the PAC is meant to be:

a vehicle for partnership work between the Council and the local community, voluntary sector and development industry around planning issues.

The committee was scheduled to consider and discuss future areas of interest and ways to engage stakeholders. The report pack states that the PAC will not discuss individual planning applications or enforcement cases, or the content of any draft local development document once it has been submitted to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Towards a New London Plan

The committee was scheduled to discuss the consultation on the next London Plan, which was opened by the Mayor of London on 9 May 2025. The consultation document, entitled Towards a New London Plan, discusses potential approaches to key issues and asks for evidence and views to inform the next iteration of the plan.

The current London Plan was published in 2021, and the Mayor of London is required to review it regularly. The review is also happening because of a change in the number of homes that London needs to plan for. The new government has said that London should be planning for 87,992 new homes per year, which is significantly more than the current plan's 52,000 new homes a year. The committee was scheduled to consider and discuss the key opportunities and challenges that a new London Plan poses for Ealing.

The report pack included a slide deck from the GLA, giving an overview of the Towards a New London Plan document and the key areas of discussion.

Planning Reform Working Paper

The committee was scheduled to discuss a government working paper on planning reform, specifically regarding speeding up building. The paper recognises that slow build out is frustrating to local planning authorities and communities. It seeks views on options that the government could pursue to ensure that the right incentives exist in the housing market, and that local planning authorities have the tools they need to encourage homes to be built more quickly.

The paper suggests giving local authorities the ability to charge developers a Delayed Homes Penalty when they fall materially behind pre-agreed build out schedules. The government is also consulting on requiring transparency and accountability measures for build out rates on housing sites.

The technical consultation sets out proposals to introduce requirements for developers of 50 or more homes to provide:

• a build out statement with their planning application
• a commencement notice when they commence their development
• an annual progress report tracking build out progress

The committee was scheduled to consider the proposals and discuss the potential implications for development in Ealing, and to consider if there are any other measures that could be suggested to support build out rates.