Sir Sadiq Khan has revealed further details of his plan to build homes on parts of London’s green belt - and has explained what drove him to take the decision.
The mayor’s announcement on Friday sparked a furious reaction from his opponents on the London Assembly, with Tory group leader Susan Hall calling him “a disgrace”, given his repeated promises to protect the green belt. “Even I believed you, because you said it so often,” she posted on social media.
In an interview with the Standard however, Sir Sadiq made no bones about the fact he is effectively u-turning on his previously-held policy.
“Let me be frank. This is a change of policy and a change of approach from myself and City Hall,” he said.
“It’s for a very simple reason. We’ve made really positive progress over the last nine years in terms of homes completed, council house-building, numbers of homes that are affordable, meeting Government targets and so forth - but we’re still falling way short of the needs of our city.
“I meet too many young Londoners in particular who can’t afford to rent in London, let alone buy. I meet too many young couples who want to start a family and so are choosing to either leave London, or defer having a child.
“I meet professionals with good jobs living in their parents’ home, in their childhood bedrooms. I’m speaking to families who are living in damp and mouldy accommodation. Teachers, who are teaching children, living in temporary accommodation.
“So what I’m announcing today is a change. We’ll be consulting Londoners on a policy to proactively look for land on the green belt that we can build homes on, with conditions attached.”
Despite the mayor’s claim of “really positive progress” in housebuilding under his mayoralty, it was revealed last month that the number of homes starting construction in the capital has sunk to its lowest level since the 2008 global financial crisis. Data from analysts Molior found that there were no starts at all in 23 out of London’s 33 local authority areas in the first three months of 2025.
Sir Sadiq suggests that by opening up parts of the green belt - particularly in those areas which already have good public transport links - development can be ramped up. But he will face an uphill battle assuaging some Londoners’ fears over the new policy, even as he insists that treasured recreational spaces will not be built on.
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“People will assume that all green belt is green and pleasant, is rich in wildlife,” he said. “That is not the case. A lot of it is poor quality, badly maintained, and inaccessible to Londoners.”
He added: “We are not talking about going anywhere near our gorgeous parks and green spaces. I’m the mayor that has either improved or increased the amount of green space in our city by more than 900 hectares - that’s between 6,000 and 7,000 football pitches.
“I think nature and homes go hand in hand. It’s a false choice [to say there is a conflict] between house-building and protecting the environment.
“There are pockets of land within London - roughly speaking, more than a fifth of our city is green belt. Outside of London, the green belt is three times the size of our city. We think only 13 per cent is parks or spaces that are accessible to Londoners…
“The conditions [for house-building applications] are going to be well-designed homes, good quality homes, maximising affordability, making sure there’s good transport connections, improving and increasing biodiversity, making sure there’s good green spaces Londoners can have access to. With the right conditions, we’ll build the homes we need.”
The mayor would not be drawn on the question of how many homes this will involve building on green belt land each year, saying that will be decided in the next edition of the London Plan, which sets out how the capital should develop over the coming decades.
He was similarly unwilling to say which parts of London’s green belt may be particularly ripe for housing, though the current edition of the London Plan has already identified several ‘opportunity areas’ which come close to it. These include parts of the Lea Valley through Enfield, the eastern banks of the Thames near Rainham and a large area around Heathrow Airport.
David Simmonds, a Conservative MP and shadow housing minister whose Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner constituency includes a large patch of green belt, said his party “will keep up the pressure to build the 300,000 homes already granted planning permission in London, and against concreting over our green belt”.
His party colleague Alessandro Georgiou, a London Assembly member who also leads the Conservative opposition on Enfield Council, said: “In December, I directly challenged the mayor about reports that TfL was pushing to build on verdant green belt land in Enfield.
“Khan looked me in the eye and assured me that London's green belt was not up for grabs. This announcement is nothing short of a betrayal - to residents in Enfield, to Londoners, to me.
“It proves what we've long suspected - that this mayor says one thing in public while quietly planning the opposite behind closed doors.”