ABSTRACT
In parallel with the work of the Housing Commission, the Spatial Development Strategy team at the Greater London Authority, including staff transferred from the London Planning Advisory Committee led by Martin Simmons, initiated work on the Spatial Development Strategy. They had inherited a major programme of work from LPAC, which had been brought together prior to LPAC’s abolition in a consolidated ‘endowment’ document (LPAC 2000a). The transition was assisted by the fact that the former LPAC chair, Councillor Nicky Gavron of Haringey, had, following her election to the London Assembly, been appointed as Deputy Mayor and Mayoral adviser on strategic planning. Another former LPAC chair, the Liberal Democrat Baroness Sally Hamwee, also became a member of the London Assembly, where she was to take a prominent role on planning issues. LPAC reports had been approved by a committee representing all thirty-three local planning authorities and represented a cross-party consensus, which meant that for a number of key policy areas, including planning for housing, the Mayor had a generally accepted starting point for his approach to the London Plan. Furthermore there was a legacy of key research and development studies, which would provide a substantial evidence base for the formulating of key planning recommendations relating to housing.
