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New ‘masterplan’ for housing
Critics fear ‘social engineering’ in strategy for affordable
homes in the city
HOUSING bosses have launched a controversial masterplan to revive some of the borough’s most dilapidated “sink” estates by wooing middle class families with council properties that have previously been set aside for the poorest residents.
The Westminster Housing Renewal strategy has been trumpeted as the solution to Westminster’s polarised housing market, currently divided between the wealthiest and those in traditional council houses, with little provision for middle-income families and so called “key workers”.
It would increase the number of properties for those deemed most excluded – people earning between £20,000 and £35,000 a year – offering discounted rents, equity share schemes and homes for private sale in estates that have previously been a conventional mix of council tenants and leaseholders.
Westminster is currently facing one of the most acute overcrowding problems in the capital with 10,000 people waiting for a council home and 1,000 households in accommodation which is too small.
While the strategy explicitly states current residents will be offered back their properties after any redevelopment, critics say any new housing should be prioritised for the thousands of families living in overcrowded conditions.
These types of property will make up 30 per cent of the affordable housing on any new-build on the estates, with 40 per cent being floated as a future benchmark.
The proposals, which could mean temporarily moving thousands of tenants out of Westminster if sections of estates are torn down and rebuilt, amount to little more than callous “social engineering”, say opponents. They say the strategy to create “mixed communities” will adversely affect vulnerable families in overcrowded properties, because it is a precursor of a wider plan to scrap traditional social housing.
The estates earmarked for renewal are:
• Tollgate Gardens estate in Kilburn Park;
• the Brunel estate in Westbourne Park;
• the Ebury Bridge estate in Pimlico; and
• land around Church Street and Edgware Road.
The work is likely to cost “hundreds of millions” of pounds.
The strategy says: “Many workers who contribute to the Westminster economy carrying out essential jobs, but with relatively low income, struggle to find a home with a private sector landlord which they can afford to rent without the majority of their take-home pay being used for their housing costs.
“We intend that the renewal strategy will offer this group new ways to purchase and rent affordable homes in the city.”
It aims to boost the number of two and three bed properties, provide more affordable homes for local workers, bring back “traditional street patterns” and “end the divide between estates and local streets”.
Planners will consider building higher density housing on the estates and attempt to “design out crime”, although they have pledged to guard open spaces and play areas from development.
The six-week consultation was launched in front of Westminster City Council leader Colin Barrow, tenants, architects and developers by the council’s housing chief Philippa Roe in Lisson Grove on Tuesday morning.
With designs to be drawn up, and dozens of stakeholders, work is not due to begin until 2012. Questions over how such an ambitious scheme will be funded are being asked. Money will come from a mixture of public and private channels, says the council, and the project is likely to take 10 years.
Councillor Guthrie McKie, Labour’s housing spokesman said: “There is nothing in this strategy that says how the 4,500 families in overcrowded, temporary or B&B accommodation are to be housed. Many of these families are on low incomes and an assisted mortgage scheme will not be suitable for them. This straregy is the new Tories dabbling in social engineering. It is trying to shape people into how you want them to behave and live.”
Cllr Roe said: “This draft strategy marks a shift in the way we approach housing towards a holistic approach to community development that involves encouraging economic renewal alongside renewal of our housing stock. It is our aim to create truly thriving mixed communities which encompass better quality homes in prosperous neighbourhoods.” |
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