Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) Tool

Understanding the availability of land to deliver London’s  housing need is core to being able to plan for the future of the city. This is done through a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), a process that has historically been undertaken by boroughs and the GLA periodically, whereby a snapshot of London’s land availability for housing is taken and analysed at a fixed point in time. A SHLAA was last carried out by the GLA in 2017.

Since 2017 there have been significant changes in the availability of planning data, enabling planners to achieve a better understanding of how the city is changing in real time. The availability of live data combined with digital options means that a fresh approach can be undertaken.

In the autumn of 2022 the GLA launched a collaborative project with all of the boroughs in London to build a real-time SHLAA, that will enable all planning authorities to collect and analyse data as part of a rolling programme, enabling transparency in the process, but also allowing for localised approaches to land availability to be undertaken.

It is envisaged that this programme will span two years and will deliver an updated, rolling SHLAA for London.

Year 1: BUILD – Developing the SHLAA tool including its interfaces with available data sources, and platforms for boroughs to engage with the available data and to collect additional data (such as the call for sites)

Year 2: IMPLEMENTATION - implementing the SHLAA tool and making it available for all boroughs in London

Successful planning of cities takes collaboration between everyone who has a vested interest in making that city a success. The success of this program will rest in engaging not only with planning authorities across London, but also with Londoners, landowners, developers, service suppliers, transport providers and other parties who have an interest in the future of London.

During the initial phases, London boroughs and key stakeholders are engaging in developing the core platform, after which other stakeholders will be invited to engage with the project.

To ensure this process is transparent, this page will be regularly updated with key information on the project and its progress. Please do check back regularly for updates and learning.