Housing Secretary’s intervention in the Emerging City of London Plan
Planners and developers seeking to promote tall buildings in or near the City Eastern Cluster are now facing a delay in the adoption by the City of London Corporation of the City Plan 2040. The City Eastern Cluster extends from Bishopsgate in the west eastwards along Leadenhall Street, and from Liverpool Street in the north to Fenchurch Street in the south.
What is the City Plan 2040?
The City Plan 2040 is a plan for the development of the Square Mile, setting the City Corporation's priorities for development up to 2040, together with policies which will guide future decisions on planning applications. Once adopted, this new Plan will replace the Local Plan 2015.
The City Plan includes a target for a minimum of 1.2 million m² of new office floorspace within two tall building zones by 2040. The City of London Corporation aims to designate specific plots in the City Cluster (east of the City) and Fleet Street area (west of the City) as sites where tall buildings should be built.
During the consultation process, the City of London Corporation rejected Historic England’s concerns of severe harm to the Tower of London World Heritage Site caused by the encroachment of tall buildings into views of and from the fortress. Historic England’s view is that the cumulative impact of development over the years has been significant, and that the heights and contours proposed at the eastern edge of the City Cluster would further erode the tower’s setting. The City of London Corporation view was that any change in the proposals would lead to a loss of around 32,000m² of floorspace, or around 2 to 3 per cent of the City’s minimum floorspace demand.
City plan intervention by the Housing Secretary
This plan went through its examination in 2025, with hearings including dedicated sessions on heritage and tall buildings, and a consultation on modifications. A report was issued with the plan due to be adopted in summer 2026.
However, on 25th June 2026 the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook, intervened in the City of London’s emerging Local Plan. He exercised the powers available to him to direct the Planning Inspectorate to hold further hearings to scrutinise how tall buildings impact the Tower of London World Heritage Site.
The Minister has requested to reopen the examination to "consider the alternative proposal for the tall buildings contours proposed by Historic England, and to specifically assess the economic and heritage impacts of that proposal in contrast to the economic and heritage impacts of the tall buildings contours currently at Figure 15 in the City Plan, and to consider which of the two proposals strikes the most appropriate balance between protecting heritage assets and not unduly restricting economic growth."
It is clear the inspectors must test whether Historic England’s alternative proposal for tall building contours would strike a better balance than the current proposal in the City Plan. Additional hearing sessions have now been scheduled (for 2 and 3 September 2026) for parties who commented on heritage and tall buildings which will be held at the City of London Corporation’s premises.
It is only those who objected to the final draft local plan at the final statutory public consultation stage who have a legal right to appear and be heard. Submission of statements is due by 5pm on Friday 21 August 2026.
Tower Hamlets local plan
Tower Hamlets has put on hold the start of the examination into the soundness and legal compliance of its local plan. It is fair to say that the City Plan and any harm to the Tower of London World Heritage Site have no impact to the Tower Hamlets local plan.
Given that the same planning inspectors were appointed to undertake the independent examination of the City Plan and the Tower Hamlets plan, it is assumed that there has been pressure imposed on Tower Hamlets to postpone its examination until these inspectors finalise the City Plan hearings in September 2026.
International concerns around skyscrapers in the Square Mile
It is worth stressing that the Housing Minister is not reopening everything in the City Plan; he is merely focusing on one question: whether growth in the Square Mile can be planned without putting the Tower of London World Heritage Site at greater risk.
Historic England is not the only organisation to voice concerns about the direction of travel of skyscrapers in the Square Mile. In 2024, UNESCO requested a State of Conservation Report by the UK Government on the effects of tall buildings on the Tower of London. An Executive Summary published on the UNESCO website appeared to support the City of London Corporation’s clustering of skyscrapers in defined locations, writing the approach is “in line with the direct recommendation from the World Heritage Committee in 2007 and this policy approach has not changed”. A subsequent Technical Review by ICOMOS, a conservation body advising UNESCO, however, featured several recommendations indicating further action may be required. These included the Government should call-in the approvals of two major schemes, 1 Undershaft and 70 Gracechurch Street, and that the draft City Plan 2040 undergo a “drastic revision”.
Has this intervention come about due to the concerns raised by UNESCO, pressure by Historic England or something else? We will wait to see whether this intervention and the final hearings in September will finally conclude the debate in this area.
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