Mete Coban said the need for affordable housing in the capital meant that some golf courses would be reviewed as potential development sites. There are 131 golf courses in London, which Coban said is equivalent to the space in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The London Plan, the mayor's long-term planning blueprint, is being revised, with a new draft due this year and expected to come into force next year.
The Government says the capital needs 880,000 homes over the next decade. According to the Evening Standard, Sadiq Khan described that target as 'far more than we have ever built before'. Khan is at grave risk of missing his current affordable housing targets unless about 18,000 homes are started between January and March this year.
far more than we have ever built before
Coban said public parks were 'very important', nature reserves and allotments were 'important', and golf courses and car parks were 'less important'. He added: 'We would rather that people have affordable housing rather than car parks.' The mayor has changed his mind on protecting Green Belt land and would now approve developments in certain areas. According to the Evening Standard, Khan said only building on already-developed brownfield land 'will never be enough to meet the scale of the challenge'. Coban said: 'The mayor has been very clear that we are targeting brown field sites first.' He added: 'Even on the Green Belt sites… some of these places that have been designated aren't very nice and aren't accessible, and we will be absolutely targeting those.' He also said: 'What we won't be targeting is the sort of green spaces that Londoners will imagine as being like a public park.'
Coban was unable to guarantee that parks and car parks would not be lost to housing.
will never be enough to meet the scale of the challenge