London suffers from worse planning delays for affordable housing than any other city in England, the country’s biggest housing association has warned.
Clarion Housing Group, which manages 125,000 homes, said that planning officials in the capital were taking more than two years to sign off social housing developments.
That was compared to around a year in cities such as Manchester, Leeds and York.
Clare Miller, the chief executive of Clarion, said: “The delays in London are very severe.”
London’s planning system is plagued by delays despite Sir Sadiq Khan’s pledge to prioritise social housing.
Social housing in the UK consists of low-cost rental properties provided by councils and non-profit housing associations, targeted at those on low incomes.
Clarion, which builds an average of 1,400 homes each year, criticised London’s planning system after recently waiting 26 months to secure permission on a 249-home development in the London Borough of Merton.
It came after a 21-month wait last year on a 145-home social housing project in Tower Hamlets.
That is compared to delays of 11 months to secure permission for a 505-home project at Brewery Gardens in Manchester that was 60pc affordable.
Similar projects in York and Leeds took 13 months and 18 months respectively.
Ms Miller said: “We are developing all over the country. Certainly in Manchester, we got planning permission pretty quickly.
“That’s a system that’s resourced and where politicians are behind it and they want to see action.”
