Conclusion: planning for growth

1.47 Given this background, the only prudent course is to plan for continued growth. This is the approach, described recently by the Mayor in his 2020 Vision^[1], which runs through this Plan. Any other course would either require fundamental changes in policy at national level or could lead to London being unprepared for growth. The projections we have used are not targets, and for the most part it is not a question of choosing growth. There is no policy to decentralise population within the UK, and it does not appear that this is likely to change in the near future.

1.48 In practical terms this means planning for:

• Substantial population growth, at least in the short to medium term, ensuring London has the homes, jobs, services, infrastructure and opportunities a growing and ever more diverse population requires. Doing this in ways that do not worsen quality of life for London as a whole means we will have to ensure we make the best use of land that is currently vacant or under-used, particularly in east London where the greatest potential exists.
• An ever more diverse population – ensuring London has the schools and other facilities needed by a growing number of younger people, while also addressing the needs of a rapidly ageing population, with homes and neighbourhoods suitable for people at all stages of their lives. We will also need to plan for the whole range of other social infrastructure London’s communities and neighbourhoods will need to support a high and improving quality of life.
• A growing and ever changing economy – London has always been at the forefront of enterprise and innovation. It already has a diverse range of economic specialisations extending beyond finance and business services to areas such as information and communications technology, transport services, culture and creativity, the visitor economy and media and publishing. The next 20 years are likely to see continued changes to the London economy, with new sectors and enterprises emerging, building on the capital’s rich resources of research and innovation and its world-class universities and specialist institutions. This period may, for example, see significant growth in the environmental sectors, driven by an increasing shift to a low-carbon economy – with new knowledge and techniques being applied to the challenges facing the planet, across the creative sectors and in new forms of business services meeting the needs of new markets and a changing world. Against this background, it makes sense both to promote and support innovation and to ensure there are policies in place that allow them the space to grow in places meeting their needs, supported by the range of infrastructure they require.
• Substantial progress in tackling persistent problems of poverty and deprivation – ensuring a planning policy framework that supports action to tackle problems of unemployment and worklessness – in particular by making sure Londoners have the education and skills they need to get better access to the jobs in their city, helping to coordinate geographically targeted approaches to development and regeneration, focussing investment and action on places (such as the Regeneration Areas identified in this Plan) with the greatest need to address persistent spatial patterns of disadvantage and contributing to the promotion of greater housing choice, supporting the policies in the Mayor’s London Housing Strategy.
• Making real progress in addressing climate change – in terms of both:
• Adaptation: making sure buildings and the wider urban realm are designed with a changing climate in mind, encouraging urban greening – protecting, enhancing and expanding the city’s stock of green space to help cool parts of the city, continuing to manage and plan for flood risks; and
• Mitigation: reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases to minimise future warming and its impacts. Development can be managed to help this – designing buildings to be energy efficient, promoting decentralised and renewable energy and patterns of development that reduce the need to travel by less environmentally friendly modes of transport.
• Careful and efficient management and use of the resources available to London, including avoiding, reducing and reusing much of what is now regarded as waste, and ensuring adequate, modern physical, transport and social infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing and vibrant city, and a diverse population.
• Protecting and enhancing London’s natural environment and habitats, while also extending and making the most of the capital’s open and green spaces – ranging from the Royal Parks to local recreation grounds – for all the benefits they bring to the capital and its people.
• Improving quality of life for all Londoners and all of London – enabling growth and change, while also supporting the retention of London’s heritage and distinctiveness, and making living here a better and more enriching experience for all.
• Joint approaches by London planning authorities – and those in neighbouring regions – on the sustainable management of growth, looking at population movement and trends, housing and labour markets, commuting patterns and waste.
• These actions will be essential to ensuring the capital remains a safe and attractive place to live in and to do business; they can also help ensure London gains from being an early mover in the emerging business of climate change adaptation and mitigation. Over the years to 2036, they are likely to drive changes across issues like the economy, transport and housing.

1.49 In looking at how these challenges are to be met, it is important to remember that the private sector dominates London’s economy, accounting for 84 per cent of output and employment.^[2] Achieving all the environmental, economic and social objectives outlined in this Plan relies upon modernisation and improvement of the capital’s stock of buildings and public realm, and this in turn means encouraging private investment and development. The approach taken in this Plan is to welcome and support growth and development, but to ensure that it contributes to London’s sustained and sustainable development. Economic success; making the kind of step change needed in environmental issues; and improving the health, wealth and quality of life of Londoners are all inextricably linked. It is impossible over the long term to succeed in any one in isolation.

1.50 It is easy to look at the direction and pace of change highlighted here and be daunted. It is worth remembering that change presents opportunities for London, as well as challenges. The London Plan aims to make the most of the former in addressing the latter. A growing population will support a growing economy, with more people wanting goods and services. There are parts of London in real need of development, particularly in east London and the opportunity areas and areas for intensification identified in this Plan. In the inter-war years, London saw the creation of successful neighbourhoods where people lived and worked, and there are places in London with a need for development and regeneration and the capacity for making new neighbourhoods for the future. A coordinated approach to planning for growth and the infrastructure needed to support it will be essential to meeting the immediate needs of the city and its people and providing foundations for lasting development and improvement for future generations of Londoners – the approach at the heart of the concept of sustainable development.

1.51 The spatial and locational policies underpinning this Plan are set out in detail in Chapter 2 and succeeding chapters. In short, the Mayor will seek to manage growth to ensure it takes place in the most sustainable way possible - within the existing boundaries of Greater London, and without encroaching on the Green Belt or London’s other open spaces. East London will continue to be a particular spatial priority, to ensure its existing development and regeneration needs are met (and in particular to promote greater convergence in social and economic chances with the rest of the capital), and to ensure the most is made of the reservoir of strategic opportunities for new homes and jobs that exist there.

^[1] Mayor of London. 2020 Vision. The greatest city on earth. Ambitions for London by Boris Johnson, GLA 2013

^[2] Private sector output share has been estimated using the latest (2010) headline workplace based GVA estimates from the ONS Regional Accounts, taking public admin and defence, education, and human health and social work as proxies for public sector activity. Private sector employment in London is based on Q2 2013 from the ONS Public Sector Employment statistics.