Boroughs must get real about affordable housing to get London’s 180K stalled developments moving

Posted by GLA Conservatives in Blog   Share2013

Jul
4

Overly ambitious affordable housing targets stifles development of new homes

4th July 2013: Steve O’Connell will today call for London boroughs to take a flexible approach to affordable housing requirements where necessary, in order to provide enough new homes for London’s growing population.

London’s population is forecast to grow to nine million by 2020. However, according to the latest GLA figures, there are 180,000 homes waiting in stalled developments in London. Steve O’Connell will point to the turnaround of stalled developments such as Bradstowe House in Harrow and the IYLO Building in Croydon.

Steve O’Connell, GLA Conservatives Spokesman for Planning, said:

“Both Bradstowe house and IYLO building stalled partly due to over-ambitious affordable housing requirements, preventing the development of hundreds of new homes and leaving eyesores in their town centres. By working with developers to restructure the previous affordable housing requirements, this successfully unlocked 177 new homes in Harrow and 183 new homes in Croydon.”

“We are in no way asking for a removal of the affordable housing requirement, but with London’s growing population, we need to make sure that developers with increasingly thin margins can complete the new homes that London requires. Boroughs must not repeat the mistakes of the past by squeezing developers too hard, otherwise we risk choking off this vital supply of new housing for Londoners.”