Major centres of London

The London Plan

Cover of the current London Plan
Author	Mayor of London
Cover artist	Photograph by Richard Linton
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Subject	Statutory planning document of Greater London
Publisher	Greater London Authority
Publication date	March 2016
Media type	Online
Pages	430

The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater London area in the United Kingdom that is written by the Mayor of London and published by the Greater London Authority.

The regional planning document was first published in final form on 10 February 2004. In addition to minor alterations, it was substantially revised and republished in February 2008 and again in July 2011. In October 2013, minor alterations were made to the plan to comply with the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes in national policy.

The current London Plan of March 2016 was published, and amended, in January 2017. The current plan has a formal end-date of 2036.

The plan replaced the previous strategic planning guidance for London issued by the Secretary of State and known as RPG3 [1]. It is a requirement of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that the document is produced and that it deals only with matters that are of strategic importance to Greater London. The Act also requires that the London Plan includes in its scope:

The plan is a spatial development strategy for the Greater London area and has six objectives. The current objectives, as adopted by the 2011 and 2016 revisions, are to ensure that London is:

The objectives were previously updated in 2008 following the Greater London Authority Act 2007:

The original 2004 objectives were:

The 2016 plan had chapters:

The plan identifies dozens of areas of opportunity, which are where the bulk of efforts will be concentrated, with an aim at reducing social deprivation and creating sustainable development. The opportunity areas will be able to accommodate around 5,000 jobs each or about 2,500 homes, or a mixture of the two. The opportunity areas will mostly be town centres as opposed to suburban developments in the boroughs, although those are mentioned as important in terms of job growth and quality of life. By definition, an Opportunity Area is brownfield land with significant capacity for development. This contrasts with an Intensification Area that can be developed to higher than existing densities with more modest economic change.