Management Executive South Hackney (MESH)

Is Hackney's Estate Plus Programme dead and buried?
WE HOPE SO!

Housing Association Builds on designated estates has halted, this was mainly due to new Government Grants to build Council Housing from the last Labour Government, we welcomed that change.

Question: Will the New Government go on awarding grants to build new Council Homes after the the economic decline is over?

Answer: We don't have one, but residents are hoping that this Government will continue to award the grants, why? because it makes economical sense to keep the HRA healthy which in turn makes our estates a Better Place To Live.

We will of course keep our ears to the ground, hoping that we will never have to hear that
Hackney's estates plus programme comes back to haunt us!


Hackney 'one of London's top boroughs' for delivering affordable housing

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing, Local Government on Friday 8th February 2008 - 4:23pm

Hackney is one of the top local authorities in London for delivering affordable housing, according to new GLA figures. 

The council has the fifth highest rate in the capital, with 50 per cent of homes built in 2006/07 being affordable housing. 

This means that Hackney is one of six boroughs achieving a London-wide target of ensuring 50 per cent of all new homes are affordable housing. 

Councilor Jamie Carswell, Deputy Mayor of Hackney, said: “Providing more affordable housing is right at the top of the Council’s agenda for the borough, and I am delighted that Hackney is at the forefront of this in London.”

Hackney secured £121 million from the Housing Corporation in 2006, the highest funding allocation in London for affordable homes.

This was to support the provision of over 1,200 new affordable homes in the borough between 2007 and 2009, to be split between social renting and shared ownership.

To help tackle overcrowding, 50 per cent of new social rented homes have three or more bedrooms, one of the highest proportions in London.

Hackney has also been exceeding London Plan Targets for new housing since 2001.

New affordable homes include social rented housing provided by councils and housing associations, and intermediate homes such as shared ownership.

MESH Comment on DASH24.com website

While is true that Hackney is providing much needed housing, it nearer the truth to say, that in doing so the split is almost all going to the private sector with a majority of them being one beds, residents on large estates are being misled by wrong information from council dubious ballots and scant information, it would be nice for a Labour Government to keep their promise and bring all homes to a decent standard, as they promised, before giving billions of pound to private landlords to make more profit than they already do .

RICHMOND & TWICKENHAM TIMES
Fury over social housing 'riff raff' quote by Arbour
By Sarah Newstead
Comment

Tempers ran high at the town hall after the borough's London Assembly member described social rented housing as "housing for riff-raff".

The Conservative LA member for South West London, Tony Arbour, made the comment at a meeting to debate Richmond Council's bid to build social housing on a number of borough plots and remove the requirement from two other "prime" sites set for development.

He said: "The council has very strong policies on affordable housing - it does not say they apply to everyone except the council.

"I do not believe, for one moment, that if a private owner came along and said, I do not want to have any riff-raff on this site, but I will provide the housing for the riff raff somewhere else in the borough,' this would be acceptable."

Councillor Brian Miller, said during the finance and overview strategy meeting that he found the comment "deeply insulting". He added: "I grew up in social housing - I am very very angry."

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has also joined the fray. He said: "Tony Arbour's comment is a direct insult to the hundreds of thousands of Londoners who live in social housing," he said.

Mr Livingstone also said Mr Arbour has been critical of the mayor's target that 50 per cent of all new homes should be affordable. Last month, Mr Arbour attacked the target saying, "London needs realistic targets, not just slogans".

Liberal Democrat candidate for the LA seat, Stephen Knight, who was also at the meeting said: "Tony Arbour's remarks are quite simply offensive to the thousands of residents across his constituency who live in social rented housing."

But Mr Arbour has fought back saying his words have been "taken out of context". He added: "These claims about me are libellous and without foundation. I utterly refute the allegation that I said social housing is for riff raff.

"What I said was: were Richmond Council, in not ensuring that there was provision for social housing in a particular development, taking the view that social housing was for riff raff?"

Richmond Council plan to remove the social housing requirement for sites at Twickenham Riverside and Friars car park in Richmond in order to attract developers.

Council officers say the move is necessary if a planned community River Centre on the Twickenham site is to be viable and if subsequent development is to avoid being unacceptably dense. They also claim that the linked site strategy will enable more social housing to be built.







THE FOLLOWING HAS COME FROM A SECTION OF THE PPS 3 HOUSING PAPERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES & LOCAL GOVERMENT WEBSITE.

Stronger environmental standards.

Developers and planning bodies will have to take account of the need to cut carbon emissions as well as wider environmental and sustainability considerations when siting and designing new homes. The forthcoming Planning Policy Statement on climate change and the new Code for Sustainable Homes will set out further details including plans to move towards zero carbon development.

New emphasis on family homes. For the first time the planning system will be required to consider the housing needs of children, including gardens, play areas and green spaces. Local authorities will have more ability to promote mixed communities and to ensure larger homes are being developed alongside flats and smaller homes.

A continuing focus on brownfield land, retaining the national target that at least 60 per cent of new homes should be built on brownfield land. Local authorities will need to continue to prioritise brownfield land in their plans and will need to set their own local targets to reflect available sites and support the national target.

They will also need to take stronger action to bring more brownfield land back into use, supported by the new National Brownfield Strategy led by English Partnerships. In response to the consultation we have also introduced new safeguards so that local authorities can ensure their brownfield approach is delivered, to support regeneration and to prevent developers concentrating only on greenfield sites.

More flexibility for local authorities to determine how and where new homes should be built in their area, alongside greater responsibility to ensure the homes are built. Local authorities will be able to set their own local standards for density (with a national indicative minimum of 30 dwellings per hectare) and for car parking. They will also be able to set separate targets for different kinds of brownfield land where appropriate, to give them more flexibility to shape new developments to meet the needs of their local area.

Stronger policies on affordable housing. The new definition of affordable housing will concentrate public funding and planning contributions on genuinely affordable housing. In addition local authorities will be able to require developer contributions to affordable housing on smaller sites where it is viable.
Stronger emphasis on rural affordable housing.

Following the recommendations of the Affordable Rural Housing Commission, local authorities and regional planning bodies will have to take greater account of affordability pressures in rural areas, and the need to sustain village life by providing additional housing that is sensitive to the area and the environment.