RM urged to make half of Mount Pleasant flats affordable

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail urged to make half of Mount Pleasant flats affordable in move that ‘could end overcrowding’

http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/20 ... vercrowdin" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

THE Royal Mail’s planned Mount Pleasant development could wipe out overcrowding in Clerkenwell if the London Mayor meets Town Hall demands to make 50 per cent of the homes affordable.

Housing chief Councillor James Murray said Camden and Islington councils needed to “fight, because the stakes could not be higher”.

The current plan for 700 mainly luxury homes – with only 12 per cent affordable – is expected to be firmly rejected by Islington Council on Monday.

Camden Council gave the scheme the thumbs down last week but it could still get the green light from London Mayor Boris Johnson.

At the Camden planning meeting, Cllr Murray said: “If the percentage of social housing increases from 12 per cent to 50 per cent, that is 260 extra affordable homes. At the moment the vast majority of flats will be sold to people overseas.

“In Clerkenwell, we have 157 overcrowded households. We could completely wipe out overcrowding in Clerk­enwell.”

The ability of Mr Johnson to give an impartial decision – he has called in the scheme for scrutiny – has been questioned after his remarks about objectors being “bourgeois nimbys”.

An independent viability study, commissioned by Islington Council, will be presented to Monday’s planning committee.

It will show that the scheme could still make a significant profit for Royal Mail even if 50 per cent of homes were affordable.

“We will show that, based on land and property prices, Royal Mail won’t lose any money by making their scheme 50 per cent affordable,” Cllr Murray added.

“What they will do is help alleviate appalling overcrowding in the immediate Clerkenwell area, where people are having to live in tiny cramped conditions and children have nowhere to study.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Our redevelopment will create more housing, including affordable units, publicly accessible open space, new thoroughfares and jobs in this inner-city area.

“If given the go-ahead, the scheme will provide up to 680 new homes. This will include the maximum reasonable proportion of affordable housing subject to viability testing.”

[baldrick]

Unfortunately a privatised Royal Mail is going to go for maximum profits on land sales to maximise dividends for shareholders. They won't be interested in social costs. The 12% 'affordable housing' won't be affordable for most Londoners on an average wage, including most postal workers.
Boris Johnson doesn't give a toss about low paid Londoners, he's a rich Old Etonian, Bullingdon Club Tory.

[UnhappyGremlin]

All new developments (I believe) are required, by planning law, to have a minimum level of 'social' housing.
RM will have that level and nothing more. Don't want to damage their profits.

[Tman]

The problem with the concept of putting "affordable/social" housing in with more up-market city centre developments is that now there's a benefits cap on what claimants can receive, they (the claimants) won't be able to afford to live there anyway, and if they're employed (in the type of job where social housing is relevant) they still won't be able to afford to live there.

[hackneyjoe]

From http://www.theguardian.com/housing-netw ... al-housing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"In a move worthy of George Orwell's Ministry of Truth, affordable rent will be higher than before, set at up to 80% of the local market rent. Across whole swathes of southern England affordable rented properties will simply not be affordable to people on low incomes.

"Data on market rents is collected by the Valuation Office Agency. The average market rents for October 2013 show that if councils and housing associations were to charge 80% of market rates for a three-bedroom property in London, tenants would have to pay a staggering £655 a week in Westminster."

The only real solution is to use the 750,000 empty homes in England and Wales, build more council housing, and implement serious rent controls.