London doesn’t have a planning permission problem. It has a delivery problem.
Recent coverage in the Financial Times highlights what many of us operating in the Section 106 space already know: schemes aren’t stalling because developers don’t want to build - they’re stalling because they often can’t.
Over the past five years, development has absorbed a compounding series of cost and regulatory pressures:
- Building Safety Regulator approvals adding time and uncertainty
- Nutrient neutrality and environmental constraints
- Ever-rising construction costs
- Increased policy asks on affordable housing and infrastructure
- Higher interest rates and constrained funding markets
Individually, each may be defensible. Collectively, they have fundamentally altered viability.
The Viability Squeeze
Affordable housing policy is frequently positioned as a fixed percentage requirement. In practice, as most S106 agreements recognise, delivery is viability-led. When land values were bid on 2017–2019 assumptions and costs have shifted dramatically since, the surplus simply isn’t there.
The result?
Permissions are granted — but schemes don’t start. Or they start smaller. Or they return for renegotiation.
This is not a policy failure in isolation. It’s a cumulative impact issue.
The Unintended Consequence
When policy ambition outpaces economic reality, delivery slows. That means:
- Fewer market homes
- Fewer affordable homes
- Reduced CIL and S106 receipts
- Slower regeneration
The irony is clear: in pushing for more, we may be getting less.
A More Pragmatic Approach
The way forward isn’t deregulation for its own sake. It’s alignment.
- Clearer viability frameworks
- Faster regulatory decision-making
- Realistic affordable housing expectations linked to market conditions
- Early-stage collaboration between authorities and promoters
At S106 Management, we see daily how structured viability reviews, staged contributions, and pragmatic negotiation can unlock stalled schemes. The objective should always be delivery — because undelivered policy delivers nothing.
London doesn’t need fewer homes. It needs a system that allows them to be built.
Call us today to see how we can help.
