Affordable housing on site doubled to 40 per cent after plans for north London scheme ‘called in’ by Mayor
More than 100 trees saved from removal and more new trees planted
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today approved a major new residential development in Mill Hill after intervening to double the level of affordable homes and to include homes at social rent levels within the development, underlining his tough approach to accelerating the delivery of new and genuinely affordable housing in London.
Barnet Council refused permission for the development on the former National Institute for Medical Research site in February this year, against the advice of its own planning officers.
When the Mayor first saw the plans in December last year, they included just 20 per cent affordable housing – 92 homes, all of which were for shared ownership. Earlier this year the Mayor ‘called in’ the planning application and has now secured twice as much (40 per cent) affordable housing on the site - 185 homes, including 131 for shared ownership and 54 at social rent levels.
Sadiq also ensured 119 trees which would have been felled across the site will now be retained and an additional 91 new trees will be planted. The development will also see a number of sports pitches previously in private hands transferred to the local council for community use.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Delivering more of the genuinely affordable homes Londoners need is one of my top priorities as Mayor and I will use all the tools at my disposable to do so.
“This development offers a significant number of high-quality homes which will be available through shared ownership, to help people struggling to buy a home on the open market. I have also been able to secure new homes at social rent levels within the development, which is key to helping Londoners on low incomes and to making sure we build a mixed community here.
“I am also delighted my planners have saved more than 100 trees from removal as well as increased the number of new trees planted – all of which will be enjoyed by the future residents in this new development for years to come.”
Since he took office, the Mayor has implemented a tough new approach to housing delivery. In the first few months of his Mayoralty he recruited a team of experts to scrutinise developers’ use of ‘viability studies’ as a way of cutting numbers of affordable homes.
Earlier this year, he published his Affordable Housing and Viability SPG, which offers a surer, quicker route through the planning process for developments with least 35 per cent affordable housing.
The new approach has already had an impact: in September, Sadiq rejected amendments to plans to redevelop the former headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, which would have lowered the overall proportion of affordable homes.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Notes to editors
- Under the terms of applications, the level of affordable housing could increase to as much as 50 per cent through a review mechanism.
- The development now includes 40 per cent affordable housing by unit numbers, and 35 per cent by habitable room – the latter of which means it meets the Mayor’s threshold for following the ‘Fast Track Route’ in his Affordable Housing and Viability Supplementary Planning Guidance.
- The Mayor first saw this scheme at Stage One in December 2016, at which point the affordable housing offer was 20 per cent (by unit) shared ownership, based on assumptions which the Mayor asked to be challenged. When it returned to the Mayor at Stage Two (May 2017), it included an additional offer of £4.56 million toward off-site affordable housing. At Stage Three (following the Mayor’s decision to call the application in), the Mayor has now secured a new offer of 40 per cent (by unit) affordable housing, split 30/70 (by habitable room) between homes at social rent levels and those for shared ownership.
- The affordable rented housing in the development will be secured via S106 at the Mayor’s London Affordable Rent benchmarks, which are based on social rent levels. These equal £144/week for a one-bed, £153/week for a two-bed, and £161/week for a three-bed.
- The site was previously home to the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), which has now relocated to the Francis Crick Institute in St Pancras, central London.
- The Mayor’s recently-published draft housing strategy sets out how he intends to push City Hall’s powers to their limits by directly intervening to increase housing delivery and how he plans to invest the record £3.15 billion secured from government in affordable housing.
- Next month the Mayor will publish his draft London Plan, which will set clear homebuilding targets for every council in London.
- The proposed development includes 448 flats across 19 buildings of three to nine stories and 12 two-storey houses, along with new offices, leisure facilities and a publicly-accessible café. The full planning report for the scheme at Mill Hill is available here: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/planning-applications-and-decisions/public-hearings/national-institute-medical.
- The revised proposal, as approved by the Mayor, complies with his Affordable Housing and Viability Strategic Planning Guidance (SPG) as it offers at least 35 per cent affordable housing without public subsidy.
- Under article 7 of the Mayor of London Order (2008), the Mayor can take over (‘call in’) applications which have been rejected by London boroughs, effectively becoming the local planning authority for an application. For more information, see: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/planning-applications-and-decisions/public-hearings.
- This is the third time the Mayor has called in a planning application since he took office: the first, in Palmerston Road in Wealdstone included 186 homes, of which 41 per cent (74 homes) will be affordable, while the second – at Hale Wharf in Tottenham Hale – deliver 505 homes, with at least 35 per cent affordable (177 homes), which increased from nine per cent since the Mayor first saw the scheme.
- The original application refused by Barnet Council included the removal of 507 trees and the planting of 748; the application approved by the Mayor will only see 388 removed and 839 planted. This has been achieved through reducing the number of car parking spaces from 613 to 535, in order to comply with the maximum allowable in the London Plan.