Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) has written a letter to the Mayor of London raising concerns about his recent London Draft Plan, which aims to tackle London's housing crisis.

In a letter to Sir Sadiq, KIRG's leader, Cllr James Giles, wrote: "The Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) on Kingston Council welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Draft London Plan 2026.

"We support the principle of a new strategic plan for London. London needs more housing, and in particular significantly more Social Rent and genuinely affordable housing. It also needs to retain sufficient employment land, improve infrastructure and respond seriously to climate change and biodiversity loss.

"Our concern is not with growth itself. It is with ensuring that growth takes place in the right locations, is supported by infrastructure, protects strategically important open and employment land, and results in homes which Londoners can genuinely afford.

"These representations build upon the concerns we have recently raised in relation to the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Regulation 19 Local Plan, but we recognise that the London Plan performs a different, strategic role.

"We therefore concentrate on those aspects of the Draft London Plan which we consider require amendment if the Plan is to provide a justified and effective strategic framework."

Cllr Giles added that KIRG is particularly concerned about how the Draft London Plan 2026 will impact South Chessington and the Green Belt, the borough's Metropolitan Open Land (MOL), including the Seething Wells filter beds, social rent on public land, tall buildings across Kingston, industrial land, biodiversity and SINCs, and cumulative infrastructure and cross-boundary growth.

He wrote: "KIRG does not seek to prevent London or Kingston meeting housing need. We want considerably more Social Rent housing built and we recognise that London will have to change substantially over the lifetime of this Plan.

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"But a strategic plan should provide certainty about where growth should happen, what infrastructure must accompany it, and what should be protected.

"Our principal requested changes are therefore to make South Chessington's status as a future candidate location explicit and prevent that designation being treated as endorsement of premature site-specific Green Belt release; strengthen PV6 [MOL] so that lack of public access cannot itself become a route to the loss of environmentally important MOL; make Social Rent the default low-cost rented tenure and strengthen expectations on public land; require actual maximum height parameters for tall building locations; ensure Regulation 19 industrial-land proposals remain subject to PV5 and GLE2 [industrial land]; make BNG explicitly additional to the mitigation hierarchy; and require cumulative, cross-boundary infrastructure assessment as development commitments change.

"These amendments would make the Draft London Plan more genuinely plan-led, provide greater certainty for communities and developers alike, and better reconcile the need for housing with London's long-term environmental, economic and infrastructure needs.

"The Kingston Independent Residents Group requests the opportunity to participate in the Examination in Public on matters concerning Green Belt and South Chessington; Metropolitan Open Land; affordable housing and Social Rent; tall buildings; industrial land; biodiversity and SINCs; and cumulative infrastructure.

"Our participation would assist the examination because our representations concern the practical interaction between the strategic London Plan and an emerging borough Local Plan which is already proposing significant Green Belt and MOL 8 boundary changes, industrial co-location, major housing allocations and tall-building opportunities."

A Mayor of London Spokesperson told Nub News: "The new draft London Plan consultation period is open until mid-October. This Plan will help shape where homes are built, how our economy grows, how we improve transport and infrastructure, and how London responds to climate change for decades to come.

"The Mayor encourages everyone with an interest in London's future to take part in the consultation. We look forward to engaging constructively with the council so we can address London's housing crisis and unlock its economic growth together."