New to U75 but been following Brixton Green with suspicion for a while.
I went to one of the workshops run by Social Life and had a conversation with Brad about the possibility of the site being used for council housing/not sold off, in which he refused to say what the report they are preparing will say about this (it's meant to reflect what was said in the series of workshops , but no one who participated in them will see it until it is published on 12 June, despite the fact that he's been liaising with the council about it - so much for reflecting "the community's views").
I'm finding it difficult not to see Brixton Green as a cover for the council to the sell off of an increasingly valuable piece of land in which at least some of the people involved in BG are likely to benefit, and which is going to make it significantly more difficult to get housing which is actually affordable to people in Coldharbour ward in the long-term (think Barratt/Brixton Square all over again).
Has anyone been calling their bluff on this? Would be up for getting stuck in...
note: I have ended up doing a long post. I have trawled my way all the plethora of webpages on different sites to try and make an understandable summary of the thinking on the scheme so far on affordable housing. It all needs to be commented on. People can comment
here and
here and
here. Also
here apparently. Though not sure about that one. Sorry about multiple comments - I think it would be easier with just one specific one for the scheme. I have also put social life Urban notification at bottom of this post. If you do that they will look at it (hopefully). If Saffron is there can u confirm?
I went to the first Social Life workshop on Housing and Communal space. I unfortunately missed the second one I was preoccupied with the Council trying to evict me from the site. I went to the last one which was more about the site in general.
My take on first workshop.
We were told by Social Life to "park" whatever organisation we might belong to and say our own opinions. Which I thought was a good idea.
People there voiced a lot of concerns about affordability. Many were concerned the recent housing "reforms" were leading to a situation where supposedly affordable housing was not in fact affordable. Also under the new "affordable" regime of housing people may not get secure long term tenancies. The secure tenancies that Lambeth Council tenants have at the moment. So concerns were raised about that as well.
Several of us expressed opinion that there should be at least 50% affordable housing. Preferably Council housing with secure tenancies at "Target rent" . Not an unreasonable suggestion imo on a site that the Council own.
I missed the second workshop for above stated reason.
I have had a look at the somewhat confusing set out of info about the scheme and found this on
BG website. Its a detailed summary of different options.
The average income in Council housing is, I have been told by Council tenants rep, £13 000. The averages in the above piece are 10% but I assume that is on basis of whole renters in Lambeth not only existing Council tenants.
Here on the Council website for Somerleyton road is the Council
view at the moment. (I think. I do find it difficult to navigate through 3 different websites for one scheme- Social Life, BG and Council). Here below is initial Council position on affordable housing on the site:
The aspiration is to have this as a policy compliant scheme for affordable housing and therefore we are aiming for 60 per cent private and 40 per cent affordable.
The affordable housing will be in line with the Council’s policy i.e. 65 per cent blended rate of market value (incl. service charge). This means one and two bed homes would be up to 80 per cent of market rent and larger family sized homes would be at social rent. We will run a financial appraisal to see whether the scheme can afford to provide more units at target rent.
also:
5) Ownership and management of affordable housing
Recent reforms allow the Council to borrow money to fund new council housing. Therefore, we will see whether it is feasible to retain the new affordable homes as council homes. If it is not feasible then either the new affordable homes will be managed by a Housing Association or by some alternative model yet to be discussed and agreed.
The Council "affordable" policy is one that some of opposed when Barratts applied to alter the affordable housing on the Brixton Square scheme.
At the planning committee meeting officers gave estimates of income required. Will see if I can find it. As , particularly for smaller households, it will not be really affordable.
So the answer to your question to Brad? According to the
BG website there view is this:
Maximize the number of new genuinely affordable homes …including looking at options like self-build to bring down costs.
The Social Life workshops report will feed into the discussions of the Core Group ( Ovalhouse, BG as community group and Council).
I am not clear at all how the affordable element of the scheme will be decided or who will decide it.
In the end it will be the Council as they are leading the project. However I am not clear how much they will take on board peoples comments.
My other worry is what happened at Elephant and Castle. After much consultation and promises the scheme affordable element has been watered down. The sorry tale can be
seen here. Councils do not have good track record in standing up to developers.
The Council say it will get a "partner" (probably a developer) to actually build the scheme. They will take the risk. They will get to sell the private housing on the site.
A Problem I see is that as at Brixton Square and Elephant & Castle a developer may use a "viability" report to argue at a late stage they cannot do the scheme as promised.
So there is a whole host of issues here. That need to be discussed. I am afraid there will not be time for some of them.
I am not sure though. Here is thinking from
Council view of progression of the scheme:
T
he outline scheme will provide guidance as to what we would like to see happen on Somerleyton Road. It might specify building heights, numbers of new homes, the amount of open space as well as the location and use of particular buildings i.e. a new arts and cultural facility on the northern end of Somerleyton Road. The outline scheme will be signed off by the Council’s Cabinet, hopefully in July, and they will need assurances that what is being proposed is financially viable and deliverable. We will continue discussions with local people over the coming months to test the community’s ambitions presented here and to agree what is possible. We will let potential developers know what we want to see happen on Somerleyton Road as part of an ‘invitation to tender’, which is likely to be in the Autumn 2013. The scheme put forward by the successful bidder will need to get planning permission, which will mean further engagement and consultation with local people in advance of it going to the Planning Applications Committee. It is unlikely that any work will start on Somerleyton Road until 2015.
Outline scheme may not define affordable element in detail. Though I am not sure. As if outline scheme gives number of homes then it might.
It does say there will be further consultations. The questions are. Who will be consulted? Who will get detailed info outside of the "Core Group". How will consultation be feed into the scheme? Who will do the actual consultation? BG, Council or Social Life?
I cannot see how this all can be discussed in the timescale given.
Also as the scheme progresses there needs to be more info given to everyone of how it is going. So , as part of Coop Council, people can keep an eye on issues like affordable housing and comment/ lobby Cllrs etc.
Saffron
