London councils warn loss of £128 million in growth funding puts 57,000 homes in jeopardy
Funding cut stalls ‘thousands’ of homes
A group of councils have handed the housing minister a detailed breakdown of housing and regeneration projects they claim will stall after the government redirected funding.
The councils wrote to John Healey this week following the announcement last month that £128 million of growth funding would be withdrawn nationally, in order to fund prime minister Gordon Brown’s £1.5 billion new homes pledge.
The North London Strategic Alliance warned that plans for thousands of homes would have to be scaled back. It said the area’s growth plans would have delivered more than 57,000 homes over the next decade.
The councils added that the nature of the announcement had come as a ‘shock’.
In the letter Mike Rye, leader of Enfield Council and chair of the alliance, accused the government of a ‘lack of consultation’ with the Homes and Communities Agency’s London board before the decision to shift the funding was made.
One source said that the London board only found out about the shift after the announcement had been made.
‘The boroughs have committed significant resources in planning for the effective use of the 2010/11 [growth area funds],’ Mr Rye states in the letter. ‘The major cut means that much of this work is wasted.
The letter lists schemes where it says ‘the reduction in funding will have a significant impact’.
‘Barnet had provisionally allocated £4 million of GAF funding to West Hendon but, combined with delays in HCA funding, the reduction in GAF funding could potentially stall this key project delivering circa 2,000 new homes,’ it states.
‘Also affected will be Barnet’s largest housing regeneration project in Colindale where major transport interchange improvements are required to help unlock a further 6,000 new homes.’
It adds that Haringey had estimated GAF funding for the Tottenham Hale Gyratory regeneration scheme would ‘provide 2,600 additional housing units beyond 2011’.
A spokesperson for the Communities and Local Government department said the £1.5 billion pledge would mean ‘more homes for London’.
‘The proposed changes to the growth fund allocations are subject to consultation and all responses will be considered,’ she added.
Stunted growth
The consequences of reallocation
Barnet
One or more ‘key’ projects to be scaled back. Provisional allocation of £4 million in growth area funding in West Hendon means the reallocation could ‘potentially stall’ a 2,000-home scheme.
Enfield
Cut in GAF allocation will reduce ability to assemble sites ‘directly supporting housing development’.
Hackney
Spending plans that would have supported the development of more than 3,000 new homes are ‘now jeopardised’.
Haringey
Development plan for Tottenham gyratory estimated that securing GAF would ‘provide 2,600 additional housing units’ after 2011.
Islington
Has built successful housing schemes but GAF cuts would make it more difficult for the council to ‘ensure that current and future residents and workers are able to experience a good quality of life’.
Waltham Forest
Blackhorse Lane scheme has capacity for more than 2,000 new homes. Cuts in GAF threatens land assembly for a highway scheme that will ‘severely impact the development pipeline’.
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