In this episode of the Kanda-Concilio podcast, Simon Gartshore, Deputy Managing Director at Kanda Consulting, is joined by Tom Sleigh, Chair of the City of London Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee, recorded live at UKREiiF.
Now heading into his second year as chair, Tom looks back on a record period for planning activity and forward to what he describes as the City’s year of construction — with ten substantial schemes currently on site and more in the pipeline.
Topics covered in this episode:
- The City Plan — where things stand ahead of the inspector’s final report, and why adoption is targeted for before the summer recess
- Growth targets — why the 1.2 million sqm figure may be a floor rather than a ceiling, and where future capacity might come from, including the eastern cluster, Fleet Valley and Grade B retrofits
- Historic England — how the relationship has been rebuilt and what co-authoring a new heritage SPD signals for major schemes coming through in the next 12 to 18 months
- Stalled sites — what the City is exploring to unlock approved developments that haven’t yet broken ground, including CIL phasing and running Section 106 in parallel with planning applications
- Culture in the Square Mile — the tension between requiring cultural space in new developments and investing in flagship institutions like the Barbican and the London Museum
- AI in planning — how Tom has built his own knowledge base using five years of public planning documents, and what his new deputy’s fintech background brings to the committee
- Planning committee reform — how the City plans to reduce its committee size to comply with the Planning and Infrastructure Act by September, and what that means in practice
