London boroughs and Sir Sadiq Khan are being urged to adopt suburban house building rules previously used by Croydon to ease the capital’s homes crisis.
A new report by the Centre for Cities argued that spreading development practices that were used in Croydon across the city could lead to 5,700 more homes being built a year.
The homes boost would be a step towards expanding housing provision and tackling sky-high rents in the capital and exorbitant property prices for those seeking to buy.
To meet a challenging housebuilding target in the London Plan, Croydon followed a Suburban Design Guide between 2019 and 2022.
Part of the strategy was to build a small block, of up to ten flats, on the site of a large, detached house, or similar plot, and possibly a few more homes in the scheme.
The number of homes built on small sites in Croydon doubled during that period compared with the previous five years, the study said.
One example highlighted by the report was building six flats in a development designed to look like a typical suburban detached house, with a further three terraced homes built out of view behind it.
Under the policy, which encouraged small developments rather than leaving it more to the discretion of councillors, Croydon delivered more such schemes of three-storey blocks than any borough has since 2004, if not earlier, according to the report.
It estimated that if all of London adopted these suburban guidelines, net housebuilding on small sites would increase from 4,500 to 10,200 a year.
This goal could be achieved, it added, by redeveloping 1,000 out of 525,000 suitable sites in Outer London boroughs, or less than one in 500, per year.
Most of the Croydon schemes were in a “traditional” style, the report outlined, but some were more modern including one development of eight flats replacing a detached home.
Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: “London isn’t building enough new homes to grow its economy, and new supply is falling.
“Croydon’s experience shows that rules-based planning reform works.
“The Mayor working with the boroughs should introduce Croydon-style suburban design guides across London to deliver an immediate boost to supply.”
The report called for:
* London boroughs to use existing powers to introduce their own suburban design guide (SDG).
* The Mayor of London should set small site targets for boroughs and mandate them to use SDG-style policies for densification in the next London Plan.
* The Government should push ahead with plans for more national planning rules, particularly for urban densification.
* The Planning Inspectorate should use Croydon’s experience to inform assessments of local authority plans to meet their small sites targets.
Sir Sadiq has stressed that tackling the housing crisis is a “top priority” for him after many developments ground to a halt in parts of the capital.
The Mayor has stressed that the city had been hit by a “perfect storm” undermining new home schemes, from a combination of higher costs of construction materials, high interest rates, as well as the ongoing impact of Brexit and the pandemic.
But Tory MPs blame City Hall and affordable home targets for the new homes crisis, which one report said was the worst since the Second World War.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed, MP for Streatham and Croydon North, and Sir Sadiq agreed to reduce the amount of affordable homes required in some developments to kick start more housebuilding.
Latest figures showed the number of new home starts in London falling by 30%.
