Southwark Council and Developers Lend Lease have been provoked into reiterating their commitment to a minimum guarantee of 25% affordable housing by the 35% campaign.
The 35% campaign aims to secure 35% affordable housing promised by Southwark Council's planning policies. There is no guaranteed minimum included in the Heygate Masterplan outline planning application(12/AP/1092). Southwark Council claim that the outline application does not need to have the minimum guarantee and that it will be included in future detailed applications.
Jerry Flynn, spokesperson for the Elephant Amenity Network (EAN) said "It beggars belief that Lend Lease should not say how many affordable houses they will be building in the outline planning application. The most important question for local people about this development is - will we be able to live there? 'wait and see' isn't a good enough answer. This application will set the benchmark for the detailed applications and without it the minimum could well be zero - just like Tribeca Square and the Leisure Centre development."
The EAN is leading the call for Southwark Council to send the application back to Lend Lease and tell them to include the 35% minimum guarantee of affordable housing set out in the Council's planning policy.
It is also pressing the council to make public the confidential financial viability assessment that Lend Lease submitted with its planning application, so that the local community can see for itself why it says it hasn't the money to build 35% affordable housing (see pg. 6 of the Supplementary Planning Statement).
The EAN has mounted the 35% campaign - www.35percent.org - to hold Lend Lease to Council policy and ensure that at least 800 of the new homes are affordable. It is demanding that the planning application (ref- 12/AP/1092), due for decision in OCT 2012, is rejected.
NOTE: The Elephant Amenity Network is a community group made up of local residents and traders campaigning for open planning, open access to green and recreational spaces and 50% truly affordable housing.
BACKGROUND: Southwark Council and Lend Lease signed a regeneration agreement including the redevelopment of Heygate estate footprint in July 2010. The development of the footprint will be in two phases - the Heygate masterplan for phase 2 (12/AP/1092) including 2,400 new homes has just been submitted. The development will also include retail, business, leisure and community facilities.
Elephant Amenity Network
For any enquiries please contact: admin@35percent.org