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25 June 2015
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea agreed last night (24 June) to embark on an ambitious programme of new house building to help tackle London’s chronic housing shortage. A full meeting of the Council passed a motion committing it to redevelop selected lower-density estates to increase the number of homes in the borough. The commitment is supported by a pledge that any Council tenants, whose homes would need to be redeveloped, will receive better quality new homes, on the same terms and rent levels, in or very near to the redevelopment. The pledge will ensure that existing mixed communities are preserved and that existing residents are able to stay in the areas they know and love. In passing the motion last night, the Council made clear that this programme of redevelopment had the following objectives: - Provide better quality new homes for existing and future Council tenants - Deliver additional affordable housing, especially for those on low and middle incomes - Tackle the root causes of ill-health, unemployment, and crime on some of the borough’s most deprived estates - Learn the lessons from the best parts of the borough’s built environment so as to build the ‘conservation areas of the future’. Any estate selected for redevelopment must be capable of providing new homes for any affected Council tenants, and of delivering on as many of these objectives as possible. The Council is particularly committed to ensuring that the urban design mistakes of the post-war years are avoided, and that any future redevelopments will be designed around traditional streets and squares and will be of mixed-tenure and mixed-use. The Council will insist on high standards of design to match those found in the rest of the borough. In doing so, the Council will seek to involve and work with local residents and amenity groups. Commenting on the decision, Councillor Rock Feilding-Mellen, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Housing, Property and Regeneration, said: “Everyone knows that land in Kensington and Chelsea is unbelievably expensive and very scarce. This naturally makes the task of building new homes, of any tenure, challenging and expensive. Nonetheless we are determined to do what we can to create more homes. Indeed, if we are to preserve our mixed communities, it is especially important that we find ways of delivering more new homes that are affordable to those on low and middle incomes. “Therefore, the Council must look at the land we already own, and primarily at our existing estates, some of which have relatively low housing densities and can, with good design, accommodate more high quality homes and be greatly improved in terms of urban design and the built environment. “We want to make sure that any such redevelopments are recognisably part of Kensington and Chelsea, respecting and reflecting the best parts of our beautiful borough, and don’t just look like more new developments that could be anywhere. “However, there’s not going to be a big cheque coming our way from central Government to help us. Therefore, any future redevelopment will have to be financially viable and able to be completed with no recurrent cost to the general council tax payer. “It is very important to stress from the outset that we will always seek to engage, at the earliest possible opportunity, with residents of any estate we are considering for redevelopment. This means they would be involved from the point we undertake initial options appraisals and then through any subsequent design and development processes.” The estates that have already been selected for work to begin on include: the empty Edenham site under Trellick Tower, the Warwick Road Estate, and part of the Balfour of Burleigh Estate together with Barlby School (referred to as Barlby-Treverton). As and when the Council starts looking for similar opportunities on other estates it will let residents know at the earliest opportunity. Therefore, if residents have not been contacted by the Council, they should assume that their estate is not being considered for redevelopment at this time.