SECOND DEVELOPMENT ALLOWED TO DROP AFFORDABLE HOMES NUMBER

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20 November 2008

 

By Gavriel Hollander
gav@southwarknews.org

SOUTHWARK COUNCIL'S social housing policy has come under fire as a second development has been forced to downgrade the amount of affordable homes available.

Just weeks after the council granted permission for developers to reduce the amount of affordable housing on the '360 development' in Elephant and Castle, the same fate has befallen a part of the Bermondsey Spa regeneration project.

With the council accepting that affordable housing levels will now be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, a planning consultant involved in building new homes in Southwark has warned that the overall number could fall.

The Larnaca Works (an artist’s impression pictured) site received planning consent in June 2007 on the basis that 35% of the 90 new properties would be rated as "affordable", complying with Southwark's stated housing policy.

However, a council planning committee earlier this month agreed that developers Union could go ahead with plans which include only eighteen social and no intermediate (shared ownership) units. That equates to just 20% of the total homes.

The change in provision of cheap housing is seen as particularly significant as it is the first time a private developer in the UK has been allowed to revise the quota.

Although planning consultants Knight Frank have hailed the decision as a sign of Southwark's forward-thinking in dealing with the imminent recession, others see it as a betrayal of the borough's most needy residents.

Paul Bates, Labour spokesman on housing and regeneration, called the decision "wrong-headed" and questioned the council's stated commitment to affordable housing.

"Many people will now begin to ask whether the council cares about meeting its affordable housing targets," he said, "On current performance, it's obvious they are well down on what's needed. Thousands of people in Southwark are in dire need of decent homes but Southwark Council simply isn't delivering. The entire affordable housing policy isn't worth the paper it was written on."

Sue Cocking, head of affordable housing for Knight Frank thinks the situation at Larnaca Works could be a sign of things to come.

"I can see this happening more," she told the 'News', "I think that Southwark Council have recognised that the economic downturn is more serious than was first thought. They need to incentivise developers. What they do not want to do is penalise them."

Paul Noblet, Southwark Council's executive member for regeneration, said: "Southwark Council is fully committed to securing the affordable housing that the borough needs, but we also have a responsibility to make sure developments actually happen. In the case of Larnaca Works in Bermondsey, we were faced with the difficult choice of seeing the scheme slip or reducing affordable housing quota to make sure the developer begins work within six months.

"Southwark needs more homes, and for us the most important issue is maintaining momentum around our developments. We have set targets around affordable housing to ensure that these developments include as many properties as possible that those on lower incomes can afford. However, every step of the way we have to make sure that developments are viable. Our ambition is that every scheme will go ahead meeting affordable housing targets.

Where that is not possible we have to make a decision. In some case we won't go ahead without the quota of houses, in some we will - but it has to be fully justified."

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