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London council to hold estate regeneration ballot
Enfield Council is set to be among the first London councils to hold a resident ballot for an estate regeneration.
It aims to hold a joint ballot of the Snell’s Park and Joyce Avenue estates in Edmonton, which it plans to demolish completely and replace with new homes.
According to the council, it has already given residents the opportunity to choose between three options: infill development, adding new homes in between the existing buildings; partial redevelopment, replacing some buildings; and the full demolition option.
At a feedback event, 92 attendees filled in the form with 56% preferring the third option, 8% preferring infill and 15% preferring partial redevelopment.
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At the moment, the two estates encompass 795 homes, 428 of which are affordable and 367 are leasehold.
Under the proposals, the council said around 3,000 homes would be delivered, of which 1,450 would be affordable, 150 would be shared equity, 1,350 would be private and 50 would be of another tenure.
This would include one building of over 20 storeys, a few other buildings over 10 storeys and several buildings over six storeys. Currently, no building on the estate is over 15 storeys and only one is over 10.
Papers submitted to the council’s cabinet state: “The viability is constrained due to the number of leasehold, freehold and RP [registered provider] properties previously acquired across the estates (45%). This introduces a significant financial burden through the cost of buy-backs, although this could be ameliorated to some extent through soft loans from [City Hall].
“Other development in the area including Meridian and Spurs will positively impact sales values, with this cross-subsidy helping to move towards the target of 50% affordable units.”
The cabinet will vote on the development in September, but this decision will be dependent on a resident ballot.
Ballots for estate regeneration are not yet required as a condition of receiving funding from the mayor’s office, but Sadiq Khan has signalled his intention to bring in such a requirement soon.
