The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, has included urban logistics hubs, last-mile distribution sites and rail and water freight facilities in London’s long-term growth strategy.
Published for consultation on Thursday 16 July, the Draft London Plan contains provisions intended to ensure freight and servicing requirements are considered when land is allocated for housing and commercial development.
Under Policy MBUL5, planning authorities would be expected to protect existing rail and water freight facilities while identifying locations for new facilities. The policy also supports urban logistics hubs for place-based consolidation and last-mile delivery, together with consolidation and goods-reception facilities serving individual developments in order to reduce the number of delivery journeys - particularly in densely built-up parts of the city.
According to the plan’s Integrated Impact Assessment, London’s industrial land supply has decreased significantly - with an 18% reduction in the last two decades. Approximately 6,800 hectares of land was in industrial use in 2020, with the total stock falling by 1,500 hectares between 2001 and 2020. The assessment shows a changing demand for logistic property, ascribing the rise in demand for large distribution buildings to e-commerce and changing consumer habits – identifying an increasing demand for smaller last-mile facilities close to residential areas.
Policy GLE2 calls on boroughs to preserve strategically important industrial land and work across administrative boundaries in order to provide additional capacity in locations with good access for freight and logistics.
Policy GLE10 seeks to safeguard wharves for waterborne freight, while requiring neighbouring development to be designed so that it does not restrict their operation.
The emphasis on freight in the Draft London Plan follows responses to the earlier consultation in which respondents emphasised freight, logistics and servicing as essential infrastructure underpinning London’s economy - calling for better planning of logistics space, consolidation hubs, low-emission deliveries and greater use of rail and the River Thames.
The policies suggested in the Mayor’s plan would make logistics capacity a more definitive infrastructure consideration, rather than something that isn’t addressed until the approval of new homes and commercial developments.
The consultation on the Draft London Plan closes at 5pm on Thursday 15 October.