An 18-storey housing development in West London will no longer provide any affordable housing as previously agreed. The development, at Greenock Road in Acton, was initially supposed to provide 43 affordable units.
However, the developer requested that it withdraw this offer, and instead provide homes exclusively for market sale, citing cost pressures. The developer argued that it would not be viable to go ahead with the project unless it was granted permission to cut the affordable homes provision entirely.
The previous plans met the council’s 35 per cent affordable homes target for new developments. However, this will now be missed entirely.
Instead, the council has secured an agreement for the developer to pay an additional £1 million. This is expected to be used towards affordable housing provision off-site.
That equates to £23,000 per affordable home lost in the new plans. This point was raised by Councillor Chris Summers at the committee on Wednesday (January 21).
He said: “I just think we’ve been sold a very bad deal, I mean, 43 units in that block of flats, they’re now going to be able to sell for market value. That’s got to be an awful lot more than £1 million.
“I know the scheme was unviable, but I don’t understand how we’ve gone from 43 units to £1 million – which is not going to be able to build us many affordable units at all elsewhere… how have we got to £1 million?”
Responding to his question, a council officer said: “We don’t assess the equivalence value of the affordable housing that was initially proposed, rather we look at the viability of the entire development…
“It is a deficit scheme, so it’s still not making money in plain terms, so the applicant has proposed a commercial offer… to perhaps consider future economic conditions and take a risk on their part. They have said they will contribute £1 million even though the viability of this scheme is not resulting in a profit.”
This is in addition to a previous Section 106 agreement secured by Ealing Council. This funding is said to go towards local healthcare provision, education, leisure facilities, open spaces and children’s play spaces.
The 18-storey block will be home to a ground floor cafe, and amenity space for residents on two different floors. This was passed with approval by all but one councillor sat on the committee.
Philip is a Local Democracy Reporter covering Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow, with a focus on council decisions, housing, planning, licensing and community stories across west London.
