London Bangla A Force for the community…
HUNDREDS OF families in Tower Hamlets will welcome the news that the Council has submitted five planning applications to build new homes – another step forward in the “Mayor’s Accelerated Housing Programme”.
Mayor Lutfur Rahman: happy to see progress
Mayor Lutfur Rahman is pleased with this achievement. “Submitting five planning applications in a single week is a significant milestone in our determination to deliver the genuinely affordable homes Tower Hamlets residents need,” he said. “These proposals could provide 203 new homes, including 146 at Social Rent. Together with the three applications submitted previously, we have now brought forward plans for 307 homes across eight sites.
“We know the scale of the housing challenge facing our borough, particularly for families living in overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation. We are moving with ambition and urgency while continuing to listen to residents and work towards high-quality developments that benefit our communities.”
The Mayor is indeed moving with ambition and urgency. It must have taken a great deal of determination – as well as hard work – to push the slow Council bureaucracy forward so fast. This is especially the case as these planning applications show that the Mayor has had to search out smaller sites for smaller projects which will nevertheless add up. This is more work, and other Council Leaders may have not bothered and stuck with the larger sites.
However, the Council’s press release is rather short on the maths, and it is therefore hard to understand what exactly is being done.
The five applications, for 203 homes include 146 at social rent (72%), cover the following sites:
•Tent Street, Bethnal Green – 60 Social Rent homes (100%)
•Gill Street, Limehouse – 11 Social Rent homes (100%)
•The Oval, Bethnal Green – 23 market homes
•Southern Grove, Mile End – 90 homes, including 56 Social Rent homes
•Back Church Lane, Whitechapel – 19 Social Rent homes (100%)
Three applications had already been submitted:
•Tomlinson Close (55 homes, 33 for Social Rent)
•Bethnal Green Professional Development Centre (44 homes, 24 for social rent)
•Strout’s Place (5 social rent homes).
That brings the total new homes for which planning applications are in to 307, of which 208 (our calculation) are for social rent – around two thirds. That is a fantastic achievement, making Tower Hamlets a model for Local Authorities around the country. The Mayor should be proud of that figure. Keir Starmer’s Labour Government was prepared, at one stage, to accept a rate of just 20% of “affordable” homes (including, but not all, homes at social rents) in new developments. Mayor Lutfur Rahman has gone for a much higher figure to reflect local need. Residents should realise just how radical that is.
There are some drawbacks.
•First, the Council press release does not state how many existing homes will be demolished, if any, to make way for the new homes, so we don’t know whether these figures are gross or net. We also don’t know the cost and who is paying, so we can’t calculate the cost per new home.
•Second, 208 homes is an achievement, but with over 30,000 households on the waiting list, we need e . To be fair, the Mayor knows that.
•Third, the Council says it has conducted “community engagement” across the sites. The Council press release says it will work with “prospective delivery partners”. That is, sadly, not as good as having a partnership with residents to work with.
The Council will now move forward to procurement – that is, choosing companies to do the building work. That is another big hurdle: will companies get involved in the work, or will they try to demand more money, on the grounds that the projects are not viable? This will not be easy, but we know that Mayor Lutfur Rahman will be up to the challenge.
●Read more about it:
Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s housing plan moves forward
Mayor tells Cabinet why housing is a priority
