Government climbs down on White City scheme
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
10/09/2008
Local people in White City are to get a new health centre and 70 affordable homes, despite efforts to prevent the scheme going ahead.
A political wrangle, over a wider planning policy shift in London, had threatened to scupper the scheme for good. But, the government has now rejected calls for it to overturn the local authority’s decision to grant permission for more low cost homes to buy.
The scheme’s critics had argued that a ward with 51% socially rented homes, more than Lambeth and Hackney, needed even more social housing as part of this development.
“Attempts to scupper this scheme have been reckless and shameful,” says council leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh. “White City is one of the most deprived areas in the country. It doesn’t need more social housing. It does desperately need the new health centre, affordable homes and other benefits offered by this scheme. I’m delighted that the government have seen sense and put a stop to the petty politics that have put this scheme at risk and which undermined its own aspiration to create mixed, sustainable communities.”
A decision to grant planning permission for the development, in Bloemfontein Road, W12, was made by Hammersmith & Fulham Council in July after extensive local consultation. The scheme promises an innovative health and social care centre, 70 homes providing a step onto the local property ladder, improvements to the local park and funding to pay back the costs of building a new public swimming pool.
In August, GLA planning officers recommended that the Mayor of London should also approve the scheme, despite their previous objections to the lack of affordable housing for rent. They concluded that the overall benefits for the community far outweighed the need to adhere to strict social housing targets and the scheme again got the go-ahead.
“The Mayor of London’s landmark decision to back this scheme marked an important move in planning policy for London towards delivering the homes and community facilities that individual neighbourhoods really need,” says Cllr Greenhalgh. “It shows the days of counter-productive affordable housing targets are dead - they served only to prevent developments getting off the ground at all.
“In H&F we have, instead, set ourselves a new target, to build 6,500 affordable homes in ten years, which will outstrip by 44% the number delivered by previous percentage targets under the London Plan.”
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government then came under pressure to intervene. But the Government Office for London has now written to the council saying that, while there is potential conflict with the need to provide social housing, the wider benefits of the scheme mean she has decided to leave the decision to the local council. The letter says;
"…..the Secretary of State considers that the proposals broadly accord with national and regional policy objectives in terms of … accessibility to health facilities; regeneration in deprived areas; provision of open space, sports and recreation facilities; provision of mixed use developments; contributing to the supply of new housing units; and the provision of community infrastructure.”
Cllr Greenhalgh continues: “Implicit in the Secretary of State’s decision there is a recognition that White City already has very high percentages of social homes for rent and that adding more social housing would not help create mixed and balanced community, as the government requires. Local people on low and middle incomes badly need help onto the property ladder without having to move away, and that’s what this scheme offers.”
Notes to editor:
- H&F Council plans to deliver 346 socially rented homes in the next two years in parts of the borough where there is a demand for social housing.
- It is estimated that only 1% of stock in the borough out off 79,000 properties is low cost homeownership compared to 34% that is designated as socially rented - more than Lewisham, Newham, Haringey, Barking and Brent.
- According to a Joseph Rowntree Foundation study on housing affordability, Hammersmith & Fulham is the least affordable area in London in terms of the proportion of younger working households able to buy at lowest quarter house prices.
- One in three adults in the area have no educational qualifications at all and over 50 per cent of ward residents are on housing benefit.
- More than 3,000 households on low and moderate incomes are registered on the council's Home Buy register. Households with a combined income of £19,000 to £60,000 who want to buy their own home you are be eligible.
- The majority of properties available through H&F Home Buy are shared ownership schemes, meaning that you part buy and part rent your home. You can buy as little as 25 per cent of a new home and build up the percentage that you own over time.
- Earlier this year H&F Council launched a ground breaking new equity interest scheme. Called Inclusive Living, the innovative scheme, entitles anybody who is renting to a stake equivalent to 3 per cent of the equity of their home after three years renting as well as the opportunity to buy further stakes up to 9 per cent. The scheme, which is currently operating at the old Prestolite site on Larden Road, allows low to middle income households to 'micro stair case' into home ownership.
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