Plans for new Council homes submitted

Published: Thursday 12 March 2020

Acklam Road- Visual.jpg

Planning applications for the first phase of Kensington and Chelsea’s ambitious New Homes Delivery Programme to build 600 new homes on Council owned land, including at least 300 at social rent, have been submitted.

The applications are for 94 new homes across four developments in the north of the borough, located on Kensal Road, Acklam Road, Hewer Street and St Helens Gardens. The homes are anticipated to be offered at various tenures, including 45 at social rent, 22 at intermediate rent and 27 at open market rent.

If the plans are given the go-ahead by the Council’s planning committee following a statutory consultation period, construction work will begin later this year and the first residents will move into their new homes by mid-2022.

The homes form stage one of the Council’s new homes programme and once the locations of the potential stage two sites have been announced, public consultation on these will start after Easter 2020. Planning applications for the stage two sites are expected to be submitted by the end of the year.

Cllr Kim Taylor-Smith, Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Grenfell, Housing and Property, said:

“Building new homes and maximising the number of affordable units in such an area of high land values is of paramount importance, and these planning applications are an important first step.

“We have the second highest level of homelessness in London and although the Council does not have enough land to build our way out of this crisis, these 300 social homes will give some of our most vulnerable residents a secure, permanent home.

“It is important for the Council to set standards within our own programme that we would like to see from other organisations developing in the borough.”

The developments included in the Stage One planning application are:

·        Kensal Road – 37 new homes (27 social rent, 10 intermediate rent)

·        Acklam Road – 28 new homes (16 social rent, 12 open market rent)

·        Hewer Street – 20 new homes (10 intermediate rent, 10 open market rent)

·        St Helens Gardens – 9 new homes (2 social rent, 2 intermediate rent, 5 open market rent)

In addition to the new homes, the developments at Kensal Road and Acklam Road include community, employment and retail space.

At Acklam Road the Council has been working collaboratively with the Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre to provide a range of new facilities for the community, building on the valuable services Al-Manaar already provides.