New Tower Hamlets local plan – Cabinet starts firing gun on Regulation 19 consultation

Housebuilding formed a central plank of Aspire’s manifesto in 2022, with Lutfur Rahman and Councillor Kabir Ahmed, his cabinet lead for planning, viewing the adopted local plan as a hinderance on their ability to deliver the ambitious and bold programme of reform they wished to embark on.

Authorising consultation on the Regulation 19 local plan, had been pulled from the last cabinet agenda, after Mayor Rahman requested officers to explore the removal of maximum heights from site allocations, to maximise affordable housing delivery (in particular family homes).

Yesterday, cabinet unanimously endorsed Option A (removal of maximum building heights in the Canary Wharf/Isle of Dogs area and the requirement for buildings to step down in height from One Canada Square).

Mayor Rahman focused heavily on the acute issue of overcrowding in the borough, speaking forcefully on the impact it has on educational, social and health outcomes.

Some of the key proposals in the local plan include:

🏡 Accelerating affordable housing delivery – targeting 40% affordable housing on private developments, with a 85%/15% tenure split in favour of social rent, reflecting the administration’s scepticism of intermediate products.

🤝 Giving back to the community – private developments should not be gated communities and must incorporate community/events space, which the council would be responsible for managing and determining the activities that take place within them.

🏗 The only way is up – the administration wants to put Tower Hamlets on par with Manhattan, Singapore and Dubai by encouraging landmark buildings. Straight out of the Ken Livingstone playbook as mayor, the administration is fundamentally relaxed about tall buildings as long as they deliver affordable, family homes.

Mayor Rahman and his officers openly acknowledge that there are aspects of the local plan that contradict the London Plan and are already pre-empting strong objections from statutory consultees. However, with a Labour government embracing and owning the pro-development agenda, will they take a more pragmatic stance when it comes to the local plan being examined.

Tower Hamlets is one of Lowick’s most active boroughs. If you have a project and want to find out more about the ever-changing political and community landscape, get in touch.