The housing sector was happy with the spending review – but lack of transport investment could scupper its delivery in London

By Daniel Gayne2025-08-20T06:00:00

Source: Shutterstock

After setting out a vision for development centred on public transit links, the mayor of London came out of the spending review empty handed. Can London build 88,000 homes a year without new infrastructure? Daniel Gayne reports.

On a hot morning back in May, having taken the train down to Kidbrooke Village in south-east London, I leant over a balcony, halfway up the 21-storey Birch House as I waited for my turn to interview the mayor of London.

Looking out over a sea of crouched brick buildings from this high-rise island of densification, it was clear that the choice of location for Sadiq Khan’s big announcement that day was no accident. Density – including in previously untouched bits of green belt – was the name of the game in the housing strategy he was launching, and underpinning it all were transit links, new and existing.

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