Council Switches Housing in Development to Social Rent


Seeking new sites to meet target of building 1,000 council homes

Cllr Aydin Dikerdem at the topping out of the Kerslake Estate in Putney
Cllr Aydin Dikerdem at the topping out of the Kerslake Estate in Putney

A meeting of Wandsworth Council’s Executive Committee this Monday (10 October) has approved a range of proposals which aim to help the administration reach a target of building 1,000 new council homes.

To kick-start the programme, housing under development will be switched to council rent. This will include all 41 homes on the new Kersfield Estate in Putney instead of the 14 originally planned.

The committee agreed the proposals that will make all homes within the council’s ‘1,000 Homes Programme’ available for council rent. The original scheme approved under the previous Conservative administration had a range of different tenures with only 442 of the homes available at social rent.

About half the homes in the programme have already been completed, were under construction or had obtained planning approval.

As well as switching housing under development, the council will be seeking new sites to develop council housing.

The council has also agreed that they will seek to increase affordable home delivery by working with developers, landowners and Registered Providers to deliver the maximum level of affordable housing within new developments and it has outlined that they deem social rent to be the most appropriate form of low cost rented homes and recommends the discontinuation of the Part Right to Buy Scheme.

Further to this, the committee has agreed that the council provides additional funding to expand its current Property Acquisition Programme. This will increase the number of new properties the Council will acquire from 32 to 50.

Cllr Aydin Dikerdem, Cabinet Member for Housing, said, “Delivering more affordable housing and maximising the council’s stock of affordable housing is a key target for this administration. The series of recommendations approved by the Housing Committee yesterday sets us off in the right direction of travel.

“Wandsworth is an ambitious council and we are proposing a number of sensible policies that seek to support the most vulnerable in our society.”

Conservative councillors have raised concerns about the authority needing to borrow more cash for the programme and whether the administration is doing enough for private renters or people wanting to own their homes.

Conservative councillor Daniel Ghossain said, “What hope do you offer to people who come from families like my own who don’t aspire to live in social housing all their life, who may want the security of their own home, who may want to buy their own council home? Is there any hope for those families under this Labour administration?”

Andy Algar, assistant director of regeneration and development at the council, countered, “Whilst it might be borrowed money, these are fixed assets that produce income and provide homes and borrowing to build is a model that most local authorities adopt in one form or another.”

Almost half of the 1,000 homes promised had been completed, were being built or had planning approval in January this year. The council will now switch existing sites that are being built to council rent and identify new sites for the programme. This includes switching all 41 homes on the new Kersfield Estate in Putney to council rent, instead of the 14 originally planned.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.



October 12, 2022