Politics, Planning and Homes in a World City This is an insightful study of spatial planning and housing strategy in London, focusing on the period 2000–2008 and the mayoralty of Ken Livingstone. Duncan Bowie presents a detailed analysis of the development of Livingstone’s policies and their consequences. Examining the theory and practice of spatial planning at a metropolitan level, Bowie explores the relationships between: • planning, the residential development market and affordable housing; • environmental, economic and equity objectives; • national, regional and local planning agencies and their policies. The book places Livingstone’s mayoralty within its historical context and looks forward to the different challenges faced by Livingstone’s successors in a radically changed political and economic climate. Clear and engaging, this critical analysis provides a valuable resource for academics and their students as well as planning, housing and development professionals. It is essential reading for anyone interested in politics and social change in a leading ‘world city’ and provides a base for parallel studies of other major metropolitan regions. Duncan Bowie is Reader in Urban Planning and Regeneration at London Metropolitan University. He has worked in London for thirty years as a professional housing strategist and planner, most recently developing the housing policies for the Mayor’s London Plan and also as analyst of its implementation. UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS Housing, Planning and Design Series Editors: Nick Gallent and Mark Tewdwr-Jones UCL Bartlett School of Planning This series of books explores the interface between housing policy and practice, and spatial planning, including the role of planning in supporting housing policies in the countryside, the pivotal role that planning plays in raising housing supply, affordability and quality, and the link between planning/housing policies and broader areas of concern including homelessness, the use of private dwellings, regeneration, market renewal and environmental impact. The series positions housing and planning debates within the broader built environment agenda, engaging in a critical analysis of different issues at a time when many planning systems are being modernized and prepared for the challenges facing twenty-first- century society. Housing Market Renewal and Social Housing in the European Class Countryside Chris Allen Rural pressure and policy in Western Europe Decent Homes for All Edited by Nick Gallent, Mark Nick Gallent and Mark Tewdwr-Jones Shucksmith and Mark Tewdwr-Jones Planning and Housing in the Private Dwelling Rapidly Urbanising World Contemplating the use of housing Paul Jenkins, Harry Smith and Ya Ping Peter King Wang Housing Development International Perspectives on Rural Andrew Golland and Ron Blake Homelessness Edited by Paul Cloke and Paul Politics, Planning and Homes in a Milbourne World City Duncan Bowie UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS Politics, Planning and Homes in a World City Duncan Bowie UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS First published 2010 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2010 Duncan Bowie Typeset in Galliard by Prepress Projects Ltd, Perth, UK Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any efforts or omissions that may be made. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN10: 0-415-48636-X (hbk) ISBN10: 0-415-48637-8 (pbk) ISBN10: 0-203-?????-? (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-48636-1 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-48637-8 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-?????-? (ebk) UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS Contents Foreword vii Preface ix Introduction 1 1 London and the planning of a world city 5 2 Strategic planning in London before the Mayor 15 3 The new spatial planning framework for London 24 4 The Development of the London Plan 38 5 From policy to implementation 72 6 The impact of spatial planning on housing outputs 92 7 Revising the spatial plan 109 8 Challenges to the London planning regime 136 9 Planning for growth in a globalized transient world 168 10 Planning and the market 179 11 The management of land and space 196 12 Planning for diversity: combating social polarization 200 13 Planning and new approaches to metropolitan governance 209 14 London’s experience of spatial planning 220 Appendix: additional tables 250 Bibliography 262 Index 276 UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS Foreword Anyone who is seriously interested in the subject of London’s governance – and that should include any serious Londoner – ought to look inside Duncan Bowie’s book and try to distil its lessons. For, despite many excellent previous contributions from academic political scientists, this is the first time that any researcher has examined in such depth and such detail the story which began with the Greater London Act of 1999 and the election of Ken Livingstone as London’s first Mayor a year later. Not only did this give London a completely new system of strategic planning through the mechanism of a single elected mayor; it was the first time that such a system, based on American models, had ever been attempted in this country. And the new mayor was not only given very wide responsibilities, later enlarged, to prepare and regularly revise an overall spatial strategic plan for London; he was also charged with overall responsibility for very major agencies – for London’s transport, its development, and (through an uneasy shared arrangement with central government) its policing. Many openly doubted at the time whether such a bold and unprecedented reform could work in practice. As many previous studies have shown, London has never proved a very governable entity. That it did prove to work, that it did survive multifarious political pressures and political crises, finally to result in a smooth transition from London’s first Mayor to his political opponent, is testimony to the fact that a decade later the experiment has worked. Duncan Bowie’s book tells the story in rich detail, culminating in the mayoral election and handover of 2008. It is essential reading for students of government and planning, not only in London and more widely in the United Kingdom but in other great cities across the world. But it should find a wider audience among those curious to understand a great and finally successful innovation in democratic urban governance. Professor Sir Peter Hall Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration, UCL October 2009 UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS Preface This work draws on some thirty years’ experience working for public sector agencies on housing strategy and spatial planning in London. I must, however, first acknowledge the work of my colleagues in the Mayor’s London Plan team between 2002 and 2007, especially Debbie McMullen, John Lett, David Taylor- Valiant, Eleanor Young and Alex Bax. I am also appreciative of comments on drafts from, or more informal discussions with, a number of professional and academic colleagues, including Christine Whitehead, Michael Edwards, Michael Bach and Peter Eversden. The work draws on the writings of a number of scholars of London planning, including Andrew Thornley, Mike Hebbert, Peter Newman, Michael Collins, Yvonne Rydin and Sir Peter Hall. I would also wish to record my thanks to London Metropolitan University for appointing me to a post which allowed me the time and space to write this book. My special thanks go to Julia Atkins, my colleague at London Metropolitan University and collaborator for nearly thirty years as we have moved between various agencies within the London governance structure, both for her contribution to planning and housing practice and for her help on the book. My thanks to the series editors, Mark Tewdwr-Jones and Nick Gallent, for accepting into their series a book which is more of a case study than a thematic text book. I of course take responsibility both for the opinions expressed as well as any remaining errors in the book. I hope that the former Mayor, Ken Livingstone, and his deputy, Nicky Gavron, both accept this book as the politically neutral and at least semi- independent analysis intended. I learned much from working with them and appreciate the opportunity I was given to work for five years at the centre of such an important innovation in spatial planning. I also acknowledge permission by the Greater London Authority and the Government Office for London to reprint images from the London Plan and related documents. My appreciation also of the contribution made by Catherine Lynn and colleagues at Routledge to getting the work through the publication process. I should also thank my family, Jackie, Jenny and Chris, for putting up with my hogging of the computer and covering the floor with books and papers. Duncan Bowie London, June 2009 UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS UNCORRECED SECOND PROOFS Introduction The main purpose of this book is to examine the impact of the Mayor of London’s spatial planning powers on housing in London between 2000 and 2008. The book is a case study of a new form of regional governance and of the inter-relationship between spatial planning and housing strategy at regional level.