Mayor 'denies Londoners chance to own homes'

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has rejected plans by Hammersmith and Fulham Council to cut the number of low rent housing association homes in a large new housing development in the borough by more than a third.

The council claimed that the cut was justified because the ward in which the development was located had more social rented homes than the London average. 

The original application from Genesis Housing Group referred to the Mayor in July 2006 for the redevelopment of the Prestolite Factory site in East Acton included 148 affordable rented homes, 33 per cent of the total development. Following Council intervention this number was cut to just 65.

When the Housing Corporation refused to fund a scheme on this basis a further change was made to 92 low rent homes, still a third down on the original application.

Last week the Council referred the proposal to the Mayor and claimed that the cut in affordable rented homes was justified because the ward in which the development was located had more social rented homes than the London average. 

The scheme is directly contrary to the policies in the Borough's own statutory plan which, like the London Plan, requires that 35 per cent of new housing should be affordable low rent homes to meet the huge need for such housing in London.

It also falls well short of the Mayor's planning guidance about the need for larger homes to accommodate families.

The Mayor said: "It is scandalous to cut new affordable rented homes and to justify this by saying that the area has enough cheap rented housing already. Hammersmith's actions have the stench of Shirley Porter's regime at Westminster Council in the 1980s.

"It is completely unacceptable for any Council to turn down the offer of desperately needed affordable rented homes - especially when this contravenes planning policies.

"There is now a grave danger that all over London borough councils are tearing up previous affordable housing policies and driving down the supply of affordable new accommodation. 

"This Christmas Hammersmith and Fulham has more than 2000 homeless families living in temporary accommodation. Yet it has decided to cut back Housing Association plans to provide desperately needed low rent accommodation that would have provided homes for these families and for local low paid key workers. 

"Over two thirds of London households who need new homes can only afford to do so through the social rented sector.  That is why the London Plan - and indeed the Council's own statutory plan - requires that 35 per cent of new housing should be for low rent affordable homes, with 15 per cent for higher cost shared ownership. This is especially important in places like Hammersmith and Fulham where high house prices mean shared ownership is out of reach for people on lower incomes.

"I cannot just stand by and watch this happen so I have decided to direct Hammersmith & Fulham Council to refuse the whole application.

"However, I have made it clear I will withdraw this direction if a scheme with more affordable rented housing comes back.  This is obviously totally practical on this site as that was exactly what the original proposal from the Housing Association involved."

But H&F Council Leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh has reacted angrily to the Mayor's decision.

He said: "Mayor Livingstone's decision to turn down this planning application will deny several hundred ordinary, hard-working people the chance to get a foot on the property ladder. It is a shameful abuse of his powers to interfere in local planning decisions for purely political purposes. It is political sour grapes and flies in the face of his own officers' advice."

"Hammersmith & Fulham Council should be advised that the Mayor is content to allow them to determine the applicationIn all, 65 per cent of homes in the new development would have been affordable housing, well above the Mayor's own target as set out in his London Plan. Of these, 43 per cent were for 'shared ownership' where local people are able to part rent and part buy their own home.

"In Hammersmith and Fulham people want help to gain a stake in their community by owning their own homes" adds Cllr Greenhalgh.

"We have the fourth highest average property prices in the country. So people on lower incomes who do not have access to social rented housing are struggling to own a stake in their own homes. This development would have helped low income families but, by rejecting it, the Mayor has left this borough with nothing but a derelict shell."