More homes were completed in Southwark in 2018-2019 than any other London borough, according to a report published this month, although the borough missed its three-year target, writes Kit Heren…
The latest monitoring report for the London Plan shows that a net 3,523 homes were completed in Southwark over the year – nearly 130 per cent of the borough’s target amount. That includes new houses and flats, student accommodation, care homes and empty properties brought back into use.
Southwark ranked highest in terms of raw numbers, but other boroughs beat their targets by more. Hillingdon and the City of London more than doubled their benchmarks.
And over the three year period from 2016-2019, the borough only reached 75% of its target, with a net total of 6,177 of 8.208 new properties completed.
Southwark also scored well for affordable housing in terms of raw numbers, although the proportion of new affordable homes built did not meet its 35% target.
Some 1,362 new affordable homes were completed in the borough from 2016-2019 – higher than every borough other than Tower Hamlets, which completed 1,978 affordable homes over the same period.
The proportion of affordable homes in Southwark within total new housing went down slightly over the three-year period, from 23 per cent in 2016/2017 to 21 per cent in 2018/2019. That is well below the 35% figure for affordable housing set out in the borough’s own strategy.
Southwark ranked highest for new affordable family homes in 2018/2019, again in terms of raw numbers. Some 304 affordable properties with three or more bedrooms were built in the borough over the year, just beating out Ealing, which built 302.
Meanwhile the number of vacant properties in the borough fell by 297, second only to Ealing, which reduced empty homes by 334. Some 22 boroughs saw vacant housing numbers increase, with Harrow recording 409 more empty homes.