The Guardian: "Planning London's future: the suburbs, the green belt and growth"

"The trio of reports commissioned by Boris Johnson provides food for thought for his successor Sadiq Khan"

An aerial view of Edgware in Outer London
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"Mayors may change but the numbers that confront them stay the same. As London’s population rises towards a projected 10 million by around 2030 and its economy continues to expand, it now falls to Sadiq Khan to figure out how to accommodate and make the most of all this galloping growth.

"Some of the solutions concern the evolution of suburban Outer London. Others may lie further afield, in the wider south-east of England. Both avenues are explored in the most recent reports of the Outer London Commission, which were published just before the mayoral election. They are far more useful than might be expected of Boris Johnson’s parting gift to his successor.

"Johnson, who set up the commission soon after becoming mayor in 2008, commends its 'sound, independent and sometimes challenging advice' at least some of which he seems unlikely to have accepted were he still in charge at City Hall. The most obvious of these relate to green belt land, both the huge quantity within the Greater London boundary and that which lies outside it."