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London councils are divided on the controversial issue of mandatory ballots for estate regeneration, Inside Housing can exclusively reveal.
Obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, responses to Sadiq Khan’s consultation on the policy show that while some councils support the principle of ballots, most have qualified their support and suggested various ways that the mayor could soften the requirement.
Some councils, meanwhile, including one Labour council, are strongly opposed to the idea of balloting estate residents before regeneration.
Inside Housing asked all London councils for their responses to the mayor’s consultation, with 19 responding to the request, seven providing their consultation response, two refusing and 10 saying they didn’t respond to the consultation.
Ealing Council, which is controlled by Labour, expressed strong opposition to the mayor’s suggestion that he will make resident ballots a mandatory funding condition for estate regeneration schemes.
Its response stated: “No, Ealing does not agree that regeneration schemes should be conditioned to residential ballots.
“Ealing considers that it already has robust processes in place to engage with the local community, and sincerely believes that there is a widespread public perception amongst its residents that they are being listened to.”
Kingston Council also opposed the policy in its response to the consultation. Its response was submitted by the Conservative administration before last month’s local elections, but a council spokesperson told Inside Housing that the new Liberal Democrat administration supports ballots.
Some councils which carry out regeneration on a wide scale, however, supported the suggestion. Labour councils in Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Hackney all said they were in favour, but suggested various changes to the policy.
Newham Council argued that anyone on the housing waiting list or in temporary accommodation in the borough should be able to vote, not just those who live on an estate.
Phil Glanville, mayor of Hackney, made a more limited call for high priority waiting list applicants to be eligible, and suggested stricter turnout requirements.
By contrast, John Biggs, mayor of Tower Hamlets, said that Sadiq Khan’s proposed inclusion of estate residents who had been on the local authority’s housing register for at least a year was wrong and said the policy should be limited to social tenants on the estate, and resident leaseholders and freeholders.
Sutton Council, which is controlled by the Liberal Democrats, also supported ballots.
Three councils: Haringey, Islington and Greenwich, which have seen extensive regeneration, did not even respond to Sadiq Khan’s consultation.
Update: at 11.00 on 4.6.18 This story was updated to clarify the change of administration at Kingston Council.