Produced by the Mayor of London, the London Plan is a blueprint for development and growth in London. It includes policies on key issues such as new homes, workplaces, public transport and open spaces. It is a legal requirement for the Mayor to produce an up to date Plan every 5 years, but the Plan needs to look beyond this timeframe. The next London Plan will look forward to 2050.
A consultation period ran for six weeks from Friday 9 May 2025 to 11:59pm on Sunday 22 June 2025. We contributed to the consultation document. The consultation document was developed by the Mayor, in collaboration with Londoners, London’s boroughs, businesses, education providers, community representatives and more. We commented on the digital infrastructure section (3.8).
3.8 Digital infrastructure
Mobile connectivity is crucial to London’s society and economy, and demand is expected to grow significantly.
New national building regulations have been introduced since the current London Plan that duplicate many of the requirements in the current London Plan. For example, gigabit-ready
broadband in all new homes and commercial properties. The next London Plan will remove duplication with these building regulations.
The London Plan could explore mechanisms to ensure that digital infrastructure aligns with capacity needs, promoting connectivity as the city expands. For example, integrating digital connectivity infrastructure with broader utility planning could help develop more interconnected and effective solutions.
We welcome evidence and views about what might be the right approach.
Data centres play a vital role in London’s economy, but they can also bring significant challenges. This includes their impact on electricity network capacity and highways disruption where they require long connections to other parts of the city. The GLA is working with the government, utility providers and boroughs to ensure enough electricity capacity is available in future for all London’s needs. This includes electricity needed for decarbonisation. We also must ensure we can avoid the current risks of data centres crowding out housing delivery or other industrial uses. In the meantime, a more strategic approach to major energy users such as data centres could have benefits, with better coordination of locations promoted for them. Consideration could also be given to whether the London Plan can add to minimising the street works disruption. In addition, other considerations include the use of waste heat and water use (noting that planning has limited powers in some of these aspects).
We welcome evidence and experience of implementation to help inform this approach.
Currently, the London Plan 2021, Policy SI 6 (Digital Connectivity infrastructure) states:
Policy SI 6 Digital connectivity infrastructure
A To ensure London’s global competitiveness now and in the future, development proposals should:
1) ensure that sufficient ducting space for full fibre connectivity infrastructure is provided to all end users within new developments, unless an affordable alternative 1GB/s-capable connection is made available to all end users
2) meet expected demand for mobile connectivity generated by the development
3) take appropriate measures to avoid reducing mobile connectivity in surrounding areas; where that is not possible, any potential reduction would require mitigation
4) support the effective use of rooftops and the public realm (such as street furniture and bins) to accommodate well-designed and suitably located mobile digital infrastructure.
B Development Plans should support the delivery of full-fibre or equivalent digital infrastructure, with particular focus on areas with gaps in connectivity and barriers to digital access.
In the current London Plan in Chapter 9 ‘SI’ means ‘Sustainable Infrastructure’