Press Release

Mayor blocks council plan to cut affordable rented homes
27-12-2006   673

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today rejected plans by Hammersmith and Fulham Council to cut the number of low rent housing association homes in a large new housing development in the borough by more than a third. The Council has claimed that the cut was justified because the ward in which the development was located had more social rented homes than the London average.

The original application from Genesis Housing Group referred to the Mayor in July 2006 for the redevelopment of the Prestolite Factory site in East Acton included 148 affordable rented homes, 33 per cent of the total development. Following Council intervention this number was cut to just 65. When the Housing Corporation refused to fund a scheme on this basis a further change was made to 92 low rent homes, still a third down on the original application.

Last week the Council referred the proposal to the Mayor and claimed that the cut in affordable rented homes was justified because the ward in which the development was located had more social rented homes than the London average.

The scheme is directly contrary to the policies in the Borough's own statutory plan which, like the London Plan, requires that 35 per cent of new housing should be affordable low rent homes to meet the huge need for such housing in London. It also falls well short of the Mayor's planning guidance about the need for larger homes to accommodate families.

The Mayor said:

'It is scandalous to cut new affordable rented homes and to justify this by saying that the area has enough cheap rented housing already. Hammersmith's actions have the stench of Shirley Porter’s regime at Westminster Council in the 1980s.

'It is completely unacceptable for any Council to turn down the offer of desperately needed affordable rented homes - especially when this contravenes planning policies.

'There is now a grave danger that all over London borough councils are tearing up previous affordable housing policies and driving down the supply of affordable new accommodation.

'This Christmas Hammersmith and Fulham has more than 2000 homeless families living in temporary accommodation. Yet it has decided to cut back Housing Association plans to provide desperately needed low rent accommodation that would have provided homes for these families and for local low paid key workers.

'Over two thirds of London households who need new homes can only afford to do so through the social rented sector. That is why the London Plan - and indeed the Council's own statutory plan - requires that 35 per cent of new housing should be for low rent affordable homes, with 15 per cent for higher cost shared ownership. This is especially important in places like Hammersmith and Fulham where high house prices mean shared ownership is out of reach for people on lower incomes.

‘I cannot just stand by and watch this happen so I have decided to direct Hammersmith & Fulham Council to refuse the whole application.

'However, I have made it clear I will withdraw this direction if a scheme with more affordable rented housing comes back.  This is obviously totally practical on this site as that was exactly what the original proposal from the Housing Association involved.'

The Council's own figures showed that it was untrue that the ward in which the development was located had significantly more social rented homes than the London average.

Local MP Andy Slaughter (Ealing, Acton & Shepherds Bush) said:

‘This is a blatant abuse of the planning process with the aim of limiting the amount of homes available to those in greatest need. The Council’s conduct is both improper and immoral and is a matter for the Standards Board for England which I shall be taking forward, but I am delighted the Mayor has taken decisive action on such a matter of strategic importance to both the borough and the whole of the capital.’

Ends

Notes to Editors

1. The Mayor is concerned that a number of boroughs have started to turn down plans for social rented housing in favour of intermediate shared ownership housing (part buy/part rent) and are not following London Plan guidance on a 70:30 social rent: intermediate ratio.
2. On 28 July 2006 Hammersmith & Fulham Council consulted the Mayor of London on an application by Genesis Housing Group Housing Group for planning permission for residential development of the Prestolite Factory site in East Acton. This was referred to the Mayor under Category 3E of the Schedule of the above Order, i.e. “Development which does not accord with one or more provisions of the development plan in force in the area in which the application site is situated and comprises or includes the provision of more than 150 houses or flats or houses and flats.”
3. This application included proposals for 148 affordable social rented homes, a third of all the housing in the development. On 6 September 2006 the Mayor considered planning report PDU/0962b/01, and subsequently advised Hammersmith & Fulham Council that the proposal was acceptable in principle subject to some further clarification on a number of issues.
4. On 12 December 2006 Hammersmith & Fulham Council decided that it was minded to grant planning permission for the revised version of the application, and on 15 December 2006 it advised the Mayor of this decision.  Under the provisions of the Town & Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2000 the Mayor may direct Hammersmith & Fulham Council to refuse planning permission, and has until 29 December 2006 to notify the Council of such a direction.
5. Following the Mayor’s comments made at the consultation stage (stage 1) the scheme
   had been amended on two occasions in relation to the split between social rented units and shared ownership units.
6. Prior to Hammersmith & Fulham’s planning committee meeting on 10 October 2006, a proposal was put forward for a revised split between the social rented and shared ownership units. The proposal was to reduce the socially rented units from 148 to 65 and increase those for shared ownership.
7. Subsequently, the Housing Corporation indicated that it was unwilling to fund a scheme based on this revised proposal; hence the statutory referral back to the Mayor was delayed. The scheme was then changed to include 92 social rented homes, compared with the original 148.
8. These various changes, based on number of units, are summarised below:
   

   	Original submission (and seen at stage 1 by the Mayor	Committee decision (10/10/06)	Committee decision (12/12/06)
   Social rent	148 (33%)	65-67 (15%)	92 (20%)
   Shared ownership	140 (31%)	221-223 (49%)	196 (43%)
   Market	165 (36%)	165 (36%)	165 (36%)

9. Andrew Slaughter MP is available for media on this subject today (27 December).
10. To contact Andrew Slaughter MP email slaughtera@parliament.uk.

For media enquiries for the Mayor please call the Mayor's Press Office on 020 7983 4070.
For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000.
For public enquiries please call the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.

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