The proposal has been put forward by a steering group led by the Association of London Government and the London Housing Federation. It would allow all London boroughs to nominate tenants to Gateway developments above a certain size. The threshold could be set at 200 homes.
Councils in the Gateway have argued that, as the new homes will be built on their land using their planning system, nomination priority should go to local people.
Newham is one of the affected councils. Andrew Baikie, cabinet member for housing and customer services at Newham, said: “We have considerable housing need in Newham and it would be a cause for concern if boroughs across London were able to access the homes we build. We want to see this limited.”
The proposals were discussed at a meeting between housing bodies and local government organisations last Friday, where it was agreed they would be piloted at the 10,000-home Greenwich Peninsula site.
David Woods, director of housing and health for Barking & Dagenham, another Gateway council, said: “We understand many other London boroughs don’t have the development land we have here, but we’re concerned that we’re going to see people from inner London boroughs moving out here and that the social costs won’t be met.
“We don’t want to see large numbers of benefit-dependent tenants moving here. We’re trying to regenerate and build sustainable communities, so there has to be a balance.”
A source close to the negotiations said there were also concerns that any move to prevent local people getting access to new social housing in the Gateway would make it harder to get community support for big projects.
Tony Newman, housing chair at the ALG, defended the proposals. He said: “We’re only going to solve London’s housing crisis with a London-wide view of affordable housing.
There has to be a recognition that areas like Hammersmith or Camden only have very limited land to build new homes.”
Source
Housing Today
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