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Transport for London (TfL) will run a 10-site pilot of releasing small packages of land to smaller builders and community land trusts in the capital.
The corporation which manages London’s transport system launched the scheme as part of mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s ‘Small Sites, Small Builders’ programme.
The 10 sites have capacity ranging between two and 42 homes (see table below)
The land will be made more accessible for smaller builders through a simple bidding process with standardised legal contracts, and two of the sites will be dedicated to community-led housing groups.
Land at Cable Street, in east London, and a site at Christchurch Road in Streatham Hill, south London, will be earmarked for community-led housing and will deliver 100% affordable housing.
Overall the 10 plots will deliver 111 new homes, of which 68% will be affordable, although six will have no affordable housing.
Mr Khan said: “For far too long, London’s housing market has been over-reliant on large developers building the majority of our homes on large brownfield sites. The number of small sites coming forward has halved in the past decade, and we have lost almost a third of all small and medium-sized home builders operating in the capital.
“Through my new small sites programme, I want to make more public land available to help contribute not only to tackling the housing crisis in London, but also to reinvigorating our small and medium-sized homebuilding sector.”
Graeme Craig, director of commercial development at Transport for London, said: “As one of the biggest landowners in London we’re in an ideal position to help provide the homes that London desperately needs, deliver genuinely affordable homes and generate revenue to reinvest in the transport network.
“We’re excited to be working with the mayor to make our smaller sites available to small and medium-sized developers, housing associations and community-led organisations and these 10, at locations across London, are the first of a number of small sites that we’ll be bringing to market.”
Mr Khan is aiming for 50% affordable across the TfL land portfolio.
On Tuesday, the largest development so far was announced for TfL land with 1,500 homes to be built in Canning Town, east London. Of these, 35% will be affordable – well short of the mayor’s overall target.
The 10 sites in the pilot programme