Sadiq Khan believes that London is poised for a pivotal moment of opportunity and growth and is urging the world to take notice. In a year he calls a “game changer” for the capital, the mayor is championing a rare alignment across national and local government – one that could unlock long-awaited investment and development potential. 

Speaking to Monocle’s editor in chief Andrew Tuck earlier this year in Cannes, Khan shared why now is the moment to back London’s future and what this means for the city’s trajectory.

Great to see you, Sadiq. Tell us, why is this year so important for London?
This year is a real turning point for the city and for the country in terms of alignment. We’ve got a new national government whose number-one mission is growth, which finally puts us on the same page. I can say candidly to financiers, developers, housing providers and everyone here in Cannes that now is the time to buy a stake in London. 

The stars have aligned in terms of certainty and stability, which is what stakeholders and contractors are looking for. We’ve brought together not only myself as mayor but also the 32 boroughs, the municipality, Network Rail and others under the umbrella of a delegation that we call “Opportunity London”. The city wants good, inclusive and sustainable growth but investors crave stability. That is why we’re launching 20 live projects for people to take an interest in. 

Does that include leisure and student housing?
It’s a whole piece. “Opportunity London” includes a can-do prime minister, mayor and councils, and a range of housing that is affordable, market value, built-to-rent and for students. Old Oak Common is one of Europe’s largest brownfield sites so there’s lots of potential there. The land that we own in the Royal Docks also offers big opportunities so we have come up with offers for joint ventures. 

We’ve opened one of the world’s finest new rail lines, the Elizabeth line, and we want to extend the Bakerloo line south and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Thamesmead. We also want to open the West London Orbital. All of this will unlock more housing and regeneration.

You’ve got some planning powers and convening influence but many developers still say that economic headwinds, financing and quotas make it hard to get projects off the ground. Has the state of the financial markets held you back?

Let’s look at the past few years. Under my mayoralty, we’ve had more homes completed than at any time since the 1930s – about 10,000 more per year than my predecessor – and we’ve started building affordable housing and council homes again. But you’re right: high interest rates and the lack of confidence in the market have been huge challenges. Brexit, especially the hard version, caused a skilled-labour shortage and inflation in construction. Then we had the coronavirus pandemic followed by Liz Truss’s mini-budget and Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Now interest rates are lower. Confidence is returning and, for the first time in a long time, the national government, the mayor and local councils are all aligned. Show me another global city where that’s the case.

So I say to investors: this is your moment. We can give you certainty and stability.

The labour pool in construction has been badly hit by Brexit. Are there enough skilled workers to deliver your housing ambitions?
We need to train more Londoners. That’s why I published “The London Growth Plan”; a 10-year vision to grow our economy by £100bn (€118bn). A key part of that is talent strategy. We need plasterers, bricklayers, AI specialists, quantum coders, roboticists, life scientists and creatives. We’re retraining the city’s residents for new careers. In the past five years under the adult-education budget, we’ve trained one million people. Half of them saw that their wages increased by more than 10 per cent. It works. But challenges remain: construction inflation and skilled-labour shortages. We must continue to respond.

But can you ever build enough?
That’s the big question. Our city has grown consistently over the past 40 years. People want to relocate here, which is a good problem to have compared to declining cities elsewhere, but we haven’t planned well enough for that growth. 

Over the past eight years we have built about 45,000 homes annually. The government now wants to achieve 88,000 per year, a figure that we haven’t hit since 1934. I’m determined to get as close as we can.

We’re working on a new pro-growth “London plan” that will rethink the green belt with a brownfield-first approach. We’re looking for good development and developers tell me, “We don’t want a free hand – we want certainty.”

There is a lot of talk about ending nimbyism. How do you balance that with quality, character and public space?
The previous mayor had a laissez-faire attitude about urban planning that led to soulless density. We want homes, not units. So our plan mandates minimum room sizes, green roofs and community spaces.

Local councils also have their own plans. Camden isn’t Croydon and Croydon isn’t Havering. But councillors often face political pressure from small groups that oppose new developments simply because they want nothing built. We need to empower councils, mayors and the central government to push through good plans and meet real demand.

Would you scrap the green belt?
No, that’s a stupid generalisation. Not all green-belt land is pristine. Some of it is low quality and near transport. If the brownfield site is exhausted and there’s poor-quality green-belt space near a station, we should build there sensibly and at high density.

You mentioned how transport corridors unlock housing. What’s the potential there?
Transport systems transform cities. The Elizabeth line is proof of that – a network of 40 stations, new homes and new energy. Tony Pidgley lobbied me hard for a station at Woolwich – and look at Woolwich now. It’s the same with the Northern line extension at Battersea Power Station. We’ve got new buses across London too.

If we extend the DLR to Thamesmead then that’s 40,000 new residences. Extend the Bakerloo line south and it’s tens of thousands. As long as I’m mayor, London won’t stand still.

What about Oxford Street?
A work in progress. Oxford Street was once buzzing and now it’s tired. We need a development corporation and third-party investments. If we pedestrianise Oxford Street, it can host retail, leisure and culture again. Flagship shops deserve a world-class location.

Heathrow is another polarising issue. You’re cautious about expansion. Is that a fight that you’ll have with the government?
Aviation is important for our economy but I support a better Heathrow, not a bigger one. The noise pollution already affects more people than all major European hubs combined – and that’s with just two runways.

Air quality around the airport is still poor and a third runway would only worsen it. Plus, the Climate Change Committee says that aviation growth must meet carbon goals. Can Heathrow do that?

Then there’s the infrastructure; rerouting the M25, tunnelling, upgrading the Piccadilly line, the Southern Rail and the Elizabeth line. It’s not the best use of money. Though I agree with the government on most issues, on this, maybe not. 

There’s a tension now between livability and economic viability. Do you think that people are wary of rapid urbanism?
That’s a profound question. Urbanisation is accelerating and more than 50 per cent of the global population live in cities, heading for 65 per cent by 2050.

We need to grow sustainable, green, human-oriented cities. The “London plan” prioritises public transport, cycling, walkability, no car parks near stations, green roofs and walls, and rewilding urban spaces.

We’ve brought back bats, bees, and beavers – Justin and Sigourney Beaver, to be precise. We’ll clean up the river so that residents can swim safely and enjoy nature in the city. We’re building homes and creating more jobs, all while embracing the challenge.

Finally, what still keeps you up at night? What’s the hardest part of being mayor?
Street crime remains a concern but we have made progress. We currently have the lowest rate of teenage homicides in 13 years and under-25 deaths are the lowest they have been in 22 years. Burglary is also down and we’re tackling phone theft by working with police and phone companies to make second-hand phones worthless, just like car stereos and TomToms once were. We’re also working with the private sector to design out crime and create a better city. Tough on crime and tough on causes.

Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, thank you for joining us.
Merci beaucoup.