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One west London council is “deeply concerned” that a lack of capacity in the electric grid could affect development pipelines “in the middle of an affordable housing crisis” across the borough.
The Financial Times (FT) revealed yesterday that developers in west London face a potential ban on new developments until 2035.
The electricity grid has run out of capacity to support new homes, because of a number of new data centres built over the past few years.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) told the FT the centres use an amount of electricity equivalent to a small city and that it might take more than a decade to upgrade grid capacity.
Hounslow, Ealing and Hillingdon councils could all be affected by the potential ban on new homes.
Both Ealing and Hounslow councils told Inside Housing they have now contacted the GLA to find out how the issue can be resolved as soon as possible.
An Ealing council spokesperson said: “We are deeply concerned by this news and we are currently reviewing how the recently announced electricity capacity constraints will impact our substantial housing development programme.
“In the middle of an affordable housing crisis in Ealing and across London, it is vital that we are able to continue building new and genuinely affordable homes to let.”
The council has requested urgent meetings with the GLA and government ministers to discuss how the issue can be resolved.
Tom Bruce, cabinet member for regeneration and development at Hounslow, said the council is aware of the pressures on the electrical grid.
“We are pleased that the GLA is exploring innovative solutions to mitigate the immediate constraints from this issue,” he said.
“Despite these challenges, we still have an acute housing shortage in our borough and we remain committed to building affordable homes for our residents. We will also work closely with the GLA to ensure economic growth is not adversely affected by these pressures.”
However, Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon Council’s cabinet member for residents’ services, said: “This is a somewhat scaremongering story, which has blown the reality of the situation out of proportion.
“We’re not aware of any housing schemes planned for the borough being affected. There is also evidence that power capacity has been reserved for developments that may never take place and this latent capacity should be made available to schemes that will be delivered.”
Mr Lavery said he understands the GLA is trying to resolve the situation as soon as possible and the council remains confident it can sill deliver its housing promises.
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