The London Green Belt areas earmarked for thousands of new homes

The draft London Plan names the Green Belt locations where the Mayor wants around 56,000 new homes built, and lists the stations that sit inside them.

Mayor Sadiq Khan published the draft London Plan in July, setting out how the capital should develop over the next 20 to 25 years.

It sets a target of 558,451 new homes across the decade from 2027/28, of which 502,351 are expected on brownfield land and 56,100 on greenfield land released from the Green Belt.

The plan calls these areas Broad Locations for Growth, and Annex C identifies them by name alongside the rail and Underground stations that serve them.

Eight boroughs carry a greenfield component in their housing target. Hillingdon has the largest at 14,750 homes, followed by Havering on 12,060, Barnet and Enfield on 7,000 each, Croydon on 5,600, Redbridge on 5,400, Harrow on 3,150 and Barking and Dagenham on 1,140.

The named residential growth locations and their stations are:

• Croydon–New Addington: South Croydon, East Croydon, Addiscombe, and the Tramlink stops at Lebanon Road, Sandilands, Lloyd Park, Coombe Lane, Gravel Hill, Addington Village, Fieldway, King Henry’s Drive and New Addington
• Eastern Hainault Loop: Barkingside, Fairlop, Hainault and Newbury Park
• East of Ickenham: Hillingdon, Ickenham, Northolt, Ruislip Gardens, South Ruislip and Uxbridge
• Mill Hill & Barnet: Mill Hill Broadway, Mill Hill East, Finchley Central, West Finchley, Woodside Park, Totteridge & Whetstone and High Barnet
• Northwood: Northwood, Northwood Hills, Pinner, Hatch End and Headstone Lane
• Crews Hill & Chase Park: Crews Hill, Gordon Hill, Hadley Wood, Cockfosters and Oakwood
• Upminster: Upminster and Upminster Bridge
• Harold Park: Gidea Park and Harold Wood
• West Ruislip: Ruislip and West Ruislip
• Dagenham: Dagenham Dock, Dagenham East, Dagenham Heathway, Elm Park and Hornchurch

A separate set of Green Belt locations is earmarked for industrial development to meet demand for storage and distribution.

• These sit near major roads at Rainham on the A13, Romford on the A12 and Upminster on the A127, all in Havering;
• Borehamwood West on the M1 across Barnet and Harrow;
• Swanley on the M20 across Bexley and Bromley; Northolt on the M40 across Ealing and Hillingdon;
• The Heathrow area on the M4 across Hillingdon and Hounslow;
• The northern Lea Valley on the M25 and A10 in Enfield;
• A south London site on the M25 in Kingston upon Thames.

Schemes on Green Belt land face a higher affordable housing bar than anywhere else in the capital.

Developers must provide 50% affordable homes to take the fast-track route through planning, compared with 35%, 25% or 20% on other land depending on location. That falls to 35% where a scheme delivers significant transport infrastructure.

Brownfield land keeps priority in the plan. For the first three years of the target period, boroughs with a greenfield component will only be held to the brownfield portion of their target, reflecting how long Green Belt sites take to come forward.

The plan also states that shortfalls against brownfield targets should not be made up by building more on greenfield land.

Decisions on releasing individual sites rest with boroughs through their own local plans rather than with City Hall. Public consultation on the draft closes at 5pm on 15 October 2026, after which the plan goes to independent examination in 2027 and adoption expected in early 2028.

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