The London Borough of Hounslow has published its response to planning inspectors after being asked to review additional evidence supporting the draft new London Plan. The council’s evidence note, published as part of the independent examination of the Hounslow Local Plan 2020–2041, concludes that the reviewed material does not materially change the evidence already before the inspectors and does not require any further Main Modifications.
The position is an examination-stage council assessment, not a final decision by inspectors and not an adoption of new policy. Hounslow also records that the draft London Plan remains at consultation stage and is not expected to be adopted for some time. The borough’s Local Plan examination is being considered against the adopted London Plan 2021 for the purpose of assessing general conformity.
Housing target comparison
Hounslow’s note compares the draft London Plan housing target for the borough with the target in the adopted London Plan 2021. The draft target is 17,975 homes over 2027/28 to 2036/37, equivalent to 1,798 homes a year. The adopted 2021 London Plan target is 17,820 homes over 2019/20 to 2028/29, or 1,782 homes a year.
The council says this represents an increase of 155 homes across the ten-year period and is materially the same as the adopted target. It also points to its own updated trajectory, which projects delivery of 21,015 homes over 2027/28 to 2035/36. On that basis, Hounslow says it expects to exceed the housing capacity identified through the draft London Plan evidence.
The council’s review says the draft target for Hounslow is derived entirely from brownfield sources. These include permissions, allocations, small sites and industrial land release. It states that no contribution from Green Belt release is included in the draft target for Hounslow.
Hounslow’s conclusion on the housing evidence is that it does not materially alter the information already before the inspectors. The council therefore says no further Main Modifications are required to the Local Plan as a result of the reviewed draft London Plan housing evidence.
Heathrow and employment evidence
The evidence note also considers material on economy, employment and industrial land. In this area, Hounslow preserves a specific concern about the method used to project future need for warehouse, storage and distribution floorspace.
The council says it has significant concerns with a resident-based approach to projecting this need in Hounslow. Its concern is that Heathrow Airport and associated logistics and warehousing activity are major business-based drivers in the borough, and that this local economic context is not adequately captured by a method based on resident population.
This concern does not change the council’s overall conclusion on the examination material. Hounslow’s note says that, across the reviewed evidence, no further Main Modifications to the Local Plan are necessary because of the additional draft London Plan material. However, the council’s criticism of the storage and distribution floorspace methodology remains part of its response to the inspectors.
Other topic areas reviewed
Hounslow’s review covers a wider set of draft London Plan evidence documents grouped by topic. These include Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land, environment, nature recovery and green infrastructure, climate change and energy, infrastructure, flood risk and town centres.
For each topic, the council considers whether the material differs materially from the evidence already before the inspectors, whether it gives rise to supplementary comments or a change in the council’s position, and whether further Main Modifications are needed.
The overall conclusion is that the additional evidence does not materially change the position already before the examination. Hounslow says the reviewed draft London Plan evidence does not require further Main Modifications to the emerging Local Plan.
Draft plan status
The draft London Plan remains a consultation document. The consultation closes at 5pm on 15 October 2026 and the plan is described as covering the next 20 to 25 years.
Hounslow’s evidence note records that the supporting evidence base for the draft London Plan has continued to evolve. It also says some material was not shared with boroughs before publication, some evidence was published separately from or after the draft plan, and parts of the evidence base have been corrected and reissued.
The council says it was still reviewing elements of the draft London Plan evidence base and preparing its own consultation response when the note was produced. It describes the review as a proportionate, high-level assessment prepared in response to the inspectors’ request, rather than a comprehensive review of the full draft London Plan evidence base or the council’s final consultation response.
The latest publication therefore leaves Hounslow’s examination position unchanged in one central respect: the council says the additional draft London Plan evidence does not require further Main Modifications, while maintaining its concern about the way warehouse, storage and distribution need is being projected for a borough affected by Heathrow-related business activity.
