£500m Scheme Faces Rejection Over Lack Of Affordable Homes

A proposal for a £500 million redevelopment in Bermondsey looks set to be thrown out because of its lack of affordable housing. The project would provide up to 1,342 private rented sector flats, plus 10,000m² of office space, retail and leisure space and a replacement secondary school, all in buildings up to 28 storeys high.  But planners said the applicant had failed to reach an agreement on ‘critical issues’ including the affordable housing and the quality of some of the homes. The affordable housing offer would be in the form of discounted rent, with just over a quarter (27.5 per cent) of the units let at 25 per cent below market rents. Read more on the Architect’s Journal website.

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/kpfs-500m-bermondsey-scheme-faces-rejection-over-lack-of-affordable-homes/10039443.article

High Street Takeaways To Be Converted Into Housing Without Planning Permission

High street takeaway restaurants will be allowed to be converted into residential properties without planning permission under new government regeneration plans. Jake Berry MP, the high streets minister, said he wants to make town centres “flexible to change” and hopes to remove delays to redevelopment often imposed by local councils. Berry’s plans would mean fast food premises would be in the same position as office buildings and warehouses, which can be turned into homes without council consent. Read more on the inews website.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/high-street-takeaways-turned-into-housing-no-planning-permission/

'Devastated' Social Housing Tenants Who Could Be Kicked Out Of Their Homes

Social housing tenants in Cambridge have been left devastated after plans were revealed to redevelop the land they live on - as the city’s affordable housing reaches “critical” levels. Montreal Square, located just off Mill Road and just over a mile from Cambridge city centre, currently has 18 houses on the cul-de-sac – but housing bosses want to increase that to 32. The Cambridge Housing Society (CHS) has revealed they are “exploring the possibility” of increasing the number of affordable homes on Montreal Square – an area where the need for affordable housing is “critical”. Read more on the Cambridge News website.

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/montreal-square-housing-association-cambridge-14247320

Housing Estates: Regeneration – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Prime Minister's announcement of 10 January 2016 on sink estates, with what bodies he discussed the redevelopment of 100 sink estates; and on what grounds the sum of £140 million for that redevelopment was arrived at.

Brandon Lewis: The Government has been in regular contact with a wide range of stakeholders to maximise opportunities to meet our ambition to deliver one million more homes. The new Estate Regeneration Advisory Panel, Chaired by , my Noble Friend, the rt. hon. Lord Heseltine, comprises a range of experts and will provide advice on how the £140 million loan fund can best be utilised, in addition to other private and public funding sources. The fund was allocated in the Spending Review assessment.

Cameron’s Talk Of ‘Sink Estates’ Hides The Reality Behind Council Housing

David Cameron has unveiled the newest target of Tory policy- so-called ‘sink estates’. According to the PM, such estates need to be emptied and demolished, with little thought as to the communities that live there and where they will be re-housed- or what will replace them. This narrative stigmatises those living in social housing in the same way that his government has consistently stigmatised those on benefits. Rather than attacking tenants directly, Cameron is instead attacking the supposed conditions in which they live, allowing his rhetoric to pass as benevolent social reform rather than the continued ideologically driven undermining of the British welfare state.  Cameron was unable to guarantee that tenants forced to move due to redevelopment would be rehoused in their local area, let alone in the actual developments that replace existing estates. By invoking the spectre of the sink estate he attempted to pass off social cleansing as an opportunity for social mobility. Read more on the Independent website.

Savills: Regen Model Could Create 360k Homes

Up to 360,000 extra homes could be created in London by redeveloping council estates to a higher density along street patterns, according to a government-commissioned report, Completing London’s Streets, carried out by consultancy Savills. The report compares a conventional approach to estate renewal, under which estates are replaced with new high-rise blocks, to an alternative ‘complete streets’ model. Under ‘complete streets’ estates are re-built in a street-based pattern. Savills estimates 1,750 hectares of London’s 8,500 council housing estates could be capable of ‘complete streets’ regeneration, leading to an increase in the number of existing homes of between 54,000 and 360,000. The modelling, carried out for the Cabinet Office, was based on a detailed study of six estates in London. Download the report from Savills website.

London Right to Buy Tenants 'Forced Out' Of City

For developers, businesses and local authorities, regeneration can lead to big profits, but for some homeowners, who bought under the Right to Buy scheme, it can lead to the loss of their homes. All over London, dozens of ageing council estates, past their prime, are being demolished to make way for redevelopments. It means that leaseholders who bought their homes on these sites under the Right to Buy scheme are being hit with Compulsory Purchase Orders and forced to move out. Local authorities are legally bound to reimburse these homeowners but evidence shows some are being pressured to accept sums that are below market value. Read more on the BBC website.