London Community Land Trust to deliver affordable homes on TfL sites as part of Mayor’s drive to boost community-led homebuilders
- Local campaigners celebrate success after months of campaigning for affordable homes.
- The Mayor of London commits £3.8 million to programme over the next year, with further funding to be delivered over the next four years
- Flagship projects will deliver 100 per cent genuinely and permanently affordable homes on two sites, in partnership with London Community Land Trust (London CLT)
- Announcement concludes pilot of Mayor’s ‘Small Sites, Small Builders’ programme
Campaigners from Citizens UK and London Community Land Trust (London CLT) are celebrating today after hearing that London CLT has been chosen to deliver flagship Community Land Trust homes on two sites brought forward by Transport for London as part of the Mayor of London’s ‘Small Sites, Small Builders’ programme.
Today, London CLT was confirmed as the successful bidder for building on sites at Cable Street (Tower Hamlets) and Christchurch Road (Lambeth). The sites will deliver around 75 new homes, all of which will be 100 per cent genuinely and permanently affordable.
The announcement follows a campaign by local groups that are part of national charity Citizens UK, with local organisations such as St-George-in-the-East, Shadwell and The Advocacy Academy of Lambeth Citizens leading the effort.
The Community Land Trust homes will be sold at a price set according to average local incomes. The price is based on the principle that no one should spend more than a third of their income on their home, which means the homes cost less than half the price of similar homes on the open market. Residents sign a contract promising to sell on the home at a price linked to incomes in the area, so CLT homes remain affordable not just for the first residents, but for future generations.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:
“Tackling the housing crisis is complex and will take time, and we must use every tool at our disposal. Making small plots of public land available for housing development is a key part of addressing London’s housing shortage, and the fantastic response to the pilot of my ‘Small Sites, Small Builders’ programme has shown that these small sites can be an important way to get new genuinely affordable homes built.
“I am also proud to support community-led housing, and I am pleased that London Community Land Trust will be building 100 per cent affordable housing on their sites in Tower Hamlets and Lambeth, which will make a huge difference to those communities.
“Not only will this programme help to provide the new, genuinely affordable homes that Londoners so desperately need, but it will also reinvigorate our small and medium-sized homebuilders after years of over-reliance on large developers.”
Calum Green, Co-Director of London Community Land Trust, said:
“London should be a city for all. To do that, we must build more homes that Londoners can afford. Community Land Trusts are a way for Londoners to play our part in delivering the genuinely and permanently affordable homes that our city desperately needs. These two sites, announced by the Mayor today, will mean over two hundred people will no longer be forced to leave London and can stay in the neighbourhood they call home.”
Sheikha Selina Anam, a teacher who lives next to the Cable Street site, and local community leader with Citizens UK, said:
“I have been involved with this campaign for two years. We have in this team, amazing people from all walks of life, but we all have the same goal of better homes and lives for the people of Shadwell. Home is the safe ground for people to grow and achieve their potential. I’m hopeful that we as a community, with [local church] St George-in-the-East leading the way, can continue to achieve housing justice for this area.”
Darren Keenan, of The Advocacy Academy, local member of Citizens UK, said:
“This is the first CLT campaign run and won by young people! Community Land Trusts give us hope that we will be able to live where we grew up and not be priced out of our neighbourhoods. We can't wait to hand over the keys to families who are able to stay in our community because of today's announcement. It has been amazing to work with TfL, Citizens UK and The Advocacy Academy to make this dream a reality."
The Mayor’s small sites programme will contribute to affordable housing delivery on public land in London. These 10 TfL sites contribute towards the Mayor's target for 50 per cent affordable housing across the portfolio of developments on public land.
Since becoming Mayor, Sadiq has worked with his transport agency to accelerate the release of its available land for housing development. Last year, TfL signed contracts to develop more than 3,800 homes to market, half of which will be affordable. This year, TfL is on track to bring forward land for at least 3,000 new homes.
Director of Commercial Development at TfL, Graeme Craig, said: “We have a key role to play in unlocking our land to support the Mayor’s ambitions to create thousands of new homes for Londoners that are genuinely affordable. It’s great to see so much interest in our sites from small and medium sized builders and community led organisations. We are looking forward to working with all the successful partners to build the homes that London desperately needs while also generating revenue to reinvest in the transport network. These are the first of a number of small sites that we’ll be bringing to market through the GLA’s programme and we hope to announce further sites in the coming months.”
There was significant interest in the pilot, with 134 bids received from 80 organisations ranging from developers and community-led housing organisations to registered providers and architect-developers. Many of the bids proposed more units than TfL had previously thought feasible, with 166 homes currently proposed across all ten sites, with an overall 64 per cent to be affordable.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- The exact number of homes set to be delivered is subject to change as contracts and plans develop.
- For media enquiries, interviews and images, please contact Calum Green on 07914193089 or calum@londonclt.org
- London Community Land Trust delivers genuinely and permanently affordable homes that are owned and run by local people. www.londonclt.org. For more info, please contact Calum Green using the details above.
- Citizens UK is the national home of community organising – a network of over 350 faith groups, schools and colleges that work together for the common good. www.citizensuk.org
- The Advocacy Academy is a transformational Social Justice Fellowship for young people who are passionate about making a difference in the world. Across six intense months, they support young leaders from marginalised communities to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to tackle some of the biggest challenges of the 21st century.