The Mayor of London has included urban logistics hubs, last-mile distribution sites and rail and water freight facilities in the capital’s long-term growth strategy, amid evidence that London’s industrial land supply has contracted significantly.
Published for consultation on 16 July, the Draft London Plan contains specific provisions intended to ensure freight and servicing requirements are considered when land is allocated for housing and commercial development.
Under Policy MBUL5, planning authorities would be expected to protect existing rail and water freight facilities and identify locations for new facilities, particularly through local plan allocations.
The policy also supports urban logistics hubs for place-based consolidation and last-mile delivery, together with consolidation and goods-reception facilities serving individual developments.
These measures are intended to reduce the number and impact of delivery and servicing journeys, particularly in densely built-up parts of the capital.
According to the plan’s Integrated Impact Assessment, London had approximately 6,800 hectares of land in industrial use in 2020.
The total stock fell by 1,500ha between 2001 and 2020, representing an 18% contraction. Some 355ha was lost between 2015 and 2020 alone.
The assessment also reports an industrial floorspace vacancy rate of 3.2% in 2021, well below the 8% level regarded as a normal ‘frictional’ vacancy rate.
Demand for logistics property is changing at the same time. The assessment attributes growth in demand for large distribution buildings partly to e-commerce and changing consumer habits, while also identifying increasing demand for smaller last-mile facilities close to residential areas.
Policy GLE2 calls on boroughs to retain strategically important industrial land and work across administrative boundaries to provide additional capacity in locations with good access for freight and logistics.
The wider strategy would still permit some highly accessible industrial land to be released for housing where the plan’s tests are met.
It also identifies Broad Locations for Growth where Green Belt land could be considered for industrial and logistics development, subject to evidence of unmet demand and tests governing access to the strategic road network.
The Mayor’s summary of the proposals suggests that providing logistics capacity in these locations could allow more accessible industrial sites elsewhere to be considered for housing.
Safeguarded wharves also form part of the strategy. Policy GLE10 seeks to protect wharves for waterborne freight, while requiring neighbouring development to be designed so that it does not restrict their operation.
The emphasis on freight follows responses to the earlier consultation in which businesses and other organisations described freight, logistics and servicing as essential infrastructure underpinning London’s economy.
Respondents called for better planning of logistics space, consolidation hubs, low-emission deliveries and greater use of rail and the River Thames.
READ MORE: New planning framework introduces dedicated freight and logistics policy
Reaction from planning and commercial-property specialists has been largely supportive of the greater recognition given to industrial and logistics requirements, although questions have been raised about how the policies would work in practice.
Planning consultancy Turley described the proposed direction for the industrial and logistics sector as “broadly positive”, particularly the recognition that demand needs to be considered across borough boundaries.
However, it warned that the removal of explicit safeguards for 24-hour operation and the agent-of-change principle could make it harder for logistics sites close to homes and other sensitive uses to operate around the clock.
Turley also questioned the proposed Urban Greening Factor target of 0.2 for predominantly industrial schemes, arguing that it could prove difficult to achieve on sites where substantial space is needed for yards and vehicle movements.
Lichfields said industrial uses had moved higher up the Mayor’s agenda but warned that the storage and distribution benchmarks may underestimate future requirements because they are based partly on London’s already constrained warehouse stock.
It also questioned whether the proposed Green Belt industrial locations would provide enough capacity in the parts of London where commercial demand is strongest.
While welcoming a more sophisticated approach to industrial land, Lichfields said the plan did not yet explain clearly enough how London’s unmet need for logistics and industrial space would be addressed.
The policies would make logistics capacity a more explicit land-use and infrastructure consideration, rather than something addressed only after new homes and commercial developments have been approved.
The consultation on the Draft London Plan closes at 5pm on 15 October 2026.
Making space for freight – from urban consolidation hubs and last-mile property to rail, river, kerbside access and cleaner vehicle fleets – will be a central theme at Urban Logistics, taking place at Excel London on 9-10 June 2027.
The event will bring together logistics operators, retailers, property owners and developers, technology and fleet providers, local authorities and policymakers to examine how cities can turn ambitions such as those in the Draft London Plan into workable, commercially viable logistics networks.
Find out more at urbanlogisticsexhibition.com
