Planning is increasingly used as a tool for delivering or incentivising growth. Yet, there is increasingly an acknowledgement that growth needs to be inclusive and provide environmental and social benefits. The London Plan (2021) has an overarching objective to deliver ‘good growth’. At the same time, since the first London Plan in 2004, the intention has been for the identification of Opportunity Areas (OAs) to be the primary way to deliver growth (of homes and employment). Despite the expansion of the Opportunity Area designations, from 28 in 2004 to 48 in 2021 (Ferm et al, 2022), little attention has been given to measuring, documenting or monitoring growth in these areas or to understanding what the outcomes are and whether ‘good growth’ is being achieved.

In this paper, we examine the localised outcomes of the Opportunity Area policy in three case study areas – chosen to represent significant groupings of OAs established by metropolitan-level analysis. Through a multi-method approach including (a) spatial mapping of new homes, jobs, public spaces and social infrastructure; (b) desktop analysis of social, economic and demographic trends; and (c) qualitative site observations, the paper investigates Opportunity Area outcomes against three Good Growth principles in the London Plan: (1) Building Strong and Inclusive Communities; (2) Delivering the Homes that London Needs; and (3) Growing a Good Economy. We find there is significant diversity in outcomes across the three OAs, challenging the conception of how to deliver Good Growth in different places.