• Cabinet approves 250 year lease on disused garage site at cost of £10
• Community Land Trust to seek planning permission and community support for nine homes
• Flats and maisonettes would remain affordable in perpetuity as part of scheme
A small disused garage site in Canning Town could become the site of nine permanently affordable homes as part of Newham Council’s first arrangement with a Community Land Trust, after Cabinet agreed a 250-year lease for the area at a cost of just £10.
Cabinet agreed to offer the E16 CLT the long lease for the site, allowing them to seek planning permission and carry out necessary community engagement and viability studies in order to deliver nine affordable flats and maisonettes, at its meeting on 5th November
The site, accessed via Blake Road, is owned by the Council and is currently in a poor condition, with overgrown vegetation, fly-tipped waste and evidence of drug and alcohol misuse. The Council currently has no plans for redeveloping the site, which could deliver much-needed housing specifically for Newham residents, otherwise priced out of the market.
The plan – just one of a number of a number of innovative schemes being pursued by the Council to help mitigate London’s housing crisis - would offer the new homes for a price based on median incomes for households in Newham. This is currently around 60% of the price of an equivalent home on the open market. It also ensures that households pay no more than 1/3 of their monthly take-home pay on mortgage repayments
Additionally the homes will remain affordable in perpetuity as households wishing to sell will only be able to sell on at the original price plus any uplift in local incomes since the time of their purchase
“The scarce supply of social rented housing, and the high costs and insecurity of the private rented sector in Newham, mean that our council is looking for ever more innovative solutions, and we actively want to support alternative housing models such as this. The council has long been committed to supporting community-led housing as a way of delivering much needed new homes,” said Councillor Amar Virdee, Cabinet Member for Housing Needs, Homelessness and Private Rented Sector and Community Safety and Crime. “These homes being protected as affordable housing in perpetuity means that they will continue to provide a crucial community resource for future generations.”
