GLA to increase London's annual housebuilding target

The Greater London Authority is changing the way the capital's capacity for new homes is calculated – with a view to increasing its housebuilding target.

The GLA is consulting boroughs on a new method for working out the number of homes to be built in London in the next 20 years.

The draft London Plan recommends at least 23,000 new homes a year, but plans are likely to raise that. The recently concluded public examination of the plan said London could "aspire" to raise the target to 30,000 homes.

A spokesman for London mayor Ken Livingstone said: "We will look again at the 23,000 target with a view to raising it as much as we can, but to do that we have to identify real ways London can deliver more homes.

"Once the consultation is over, lots of number crunching will go on and we will look for a new figure for the number of houses that will be delivered each year in the capital in time for the review of the London Plan in 2006."

The new study should help councils get a more accurate idea of how many houses they can build in the next 20 years. It proposes that councils work out the probability of a site becoming available for housing, rather than deciding that a site was "in or out" for housebuilding as the old system did. It suggests that councils include windfall sites – sites that become available for housing but were not originally earmarked for it – in calculations.

North London's Camden council welcomed the study but expressed concern about the treatment of windfall sites.

We will look again at the 23,000-a-year target with a view to raising it as much as we can

Spokesman for the London mayor

Senior planner Brian O'Donnell said: "We get a lot of our housing through windfall sites. It would be very difficult to estimate them in our housing capacity study because by their nature you don't know they are coming in. We do not have long-term empty sites, just sites that are used, and then eventually the use stops."

One borough in the Thames Gateway feared the study might result in unachievable targets.

A spokesman said: "Our main concern is that in the Budget in April, the chancellor said boroughs' performance in meeting regional planning targets would be assessed and if they underperform, the government might intervene. We have to make sure the target is achievable."

However, he welcomed the new proposal to take account of the availability of public transport when calculating the density on sites.

Planners can take account of when public transport will be provided before deciding when a site should be built on. They can also lower the amount of car parking spaces on a site if it has good public transport links.