London planning committee agrees to maximize land opened up for new housing [Video]

The proliferation of housing in bedroom communities around London convinced the Planning and Environment Committee (PEC) to recommend adding up to 2,000 hectares of new residential land inside the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB).

On Tuesday, lobbyists for local developers and homeowners offered dire warnings about the consequence of adding less land inside the UGB.

“If you don’t grow the Urban Growth Boundary here, people will go elsewhere,” Mike Wallace of the London Development Institute told the committee. “[Housing] on farmland surrounding London.”

Wallace added that people living in surrounding communities, drive in here every single day using your resources that taxpayers of London have paid for.

“An ample supply of land allows the [housing] market to work better, creates greater affordability, choice, and the ability for people and families to stay in London,” said Jared Zaifman of the London Home Builders Association.

The city established the UGB to prevent sprawl and ensure the creation of new subdivisions doesn’t outpace the installation of …