Sadiq Khan admits concern developers are 'landbanking' London's green belt Sir Sadiq Khan has said he is concerned that house-builders are buying up parts of London’s green belt in the expectation that ministers will soon loosen the rules which currently protect the land from development.
Sir Sadiq replied: “Without commenting on the specific developers there - I don’t want to inadvertently defame them - there is a concern that developers will, and have been, buying green belt land with the expectation [that] the value of this land will increase hugely if planning policies are changed to make housing and other things possible on those pieces of land.
The mayor separately revealed that City Hall is applying for Government funding to carry out a comprehensive “review” of London’s green belt, which will seek to identify potential grey belt locations and enable them to be considered for development in a “strategic” way.
The Government plans to de-classify “low quality” parts of the green belt to enable new homes to be built on it, with those areas effectively re-designated as ‘grey belt’.
Thomas Turrell, the London Assembly’s Tory member for Bexley and Bromley, told Sir Sadiq: “Close to half of the instances when [new housing construction] completions and starts in Bromley have been off target have come since 2019.
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