You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
London housing association moves step closer on 990-home scheme but affordable share reduced
Plans to demolish a 30-year-old west London housing estate and build 990 new homes have moved a step closer, but the percentage of proposed affordable housing has been reduced.
Catalyst, the 21,000-home G15 landlord, and developer Mount Anvil have won approval from Ealing Council’s planning committee for the regeneration of the Friary Park Estate in Acton.
The phased mixed-use scheme, which has been on the drawing board since 2014, involves plans for 45% “genuinely affordable” units, which will include 237 social rent homes and 28 London Affordable Rent homes, Catalyst and Mount Anvil said. It includes blocks ranging in height from three storeys to 24.
However a figure of 50% affordable housing was proposed for a development of 930 homes by the two groups in January this year. This plan included 225 homes at social rent.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has called on developers to deliver a minimum of 35% affordable housing on large sites.
The recommendation to grant permission is also subject to completion of a Section 106 agreement and a stage two referral to Mr Khan, according to Ealing Council.
READ MORE
The original development contains 225 dwellings across apartment blocks ranging between three and four storeys. According to Ealing Council documents, the estate was built by Laing Homes in the late 1980s. However, because of the recession, the flats did not sell and were acquired by Catalyst for social housing.
The council said that the existing estate is “poor quality [and] falls well below modern space standards, particularly in terms of bedroom numbers or sizes”, and that the homes are “poorly insulated and do not benefit from adequate heating”.
It added: “Catalyst have explored a number of alternatives to repair, infill and partially develop the estate over recent years but none were considered to deliver the optimum solution or the improvements to the quality of place or condition of the existing housing stock.”
Catalyst, which last month reported a 45% fall in its annual surplus, said that all its existing tenants on the estate have the option of being rehoused in the new development if they wish to be.
Philip Jenkins, group development director at Catalyst, said: “We are eager and now ready to bring forward a new estate that the whole community can live in, play in, and enjoy for years to come.”
The council’s planning committee concluded: “It has been demonstrated that the principle of redeveloping this underutilised brownfield site which is located in a sustainable location is acceptable.
“The proposed development will include the re-provision of existing poor-quality affordable housing and also result in the significant uplift in both affordable and market housing, contributing to satisfying housing demand and making an important contribution to the delivery of affordable homes in the borough.”
