For months, the local community in Mortlake has been holding its breath waiting for a decision from the Planning Inspector on the proposal to redevelop the old Stag Brewery in Mortlake for housing and a new secondary school.
Finally, the verdict has arrived: the Inspector has approved the developer’s proposal – but with only 7.5% affordable housing. This means that only 52 social rent homes and 13 shared ownership homes out of the total 1,075 flats will be available at genuinely affordable rents.
Astonishingly, the Inspector rejected the developer’s offer of 12% affordable housing (106 homes) on the grounds of “economic uncertainty”.
Local residents and community groups are baffled by the decision. Green Party Councillor Niki Crookdake, who supported local community groups in the appeal process, reflected the reaction of many local people to the decision: “It’s a bizarre decision, particularly in the light of the current government’s supposed commitment to a major increase in building affordable homes. In fact, the Planning Inspector even refers to the Labour government’s statement committing itself to the ‘biggest growth in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation’. How is only 7.5% affordable housing at The Stag supposed to get us anywhere near that target?”
The Inspector’s decision does leave the door open for the Council to review the development as it proceeds and to mandate further affordable homes if economic conditions improve. However, in Cllr Crookdake’s view, this will not deliver more affordable homes: “You only have to look at other developments that have had the same mechanism to see that it won’t happen. Just like at Teddington Riverside, absent foreign buyers will purchase £1m+ flats in the new Stag development, or they will be left unsold.”
More than 5,000 people are on the social housing register waiting for homes, and last year Richmond Council spent £4.2 million on direct homelessness costs.
As the Opposition on Richmond Council, Green Party councillors have consistently pointed out that Richmond’s affordable housing delivery has been significantly worse than other local authorities, delivering only 46 affordable homes over the last three years. The answer has often been that developments such as The Stag and Ham Close will fill this yawning gap. However, the number of new homes classed as genuinely affordable in the Ham Close development is only increasing by 57. Taken together with the 65 proposed affordable homes in The Stag, this is nowhere near enough to help the huge number of struggling residents waiting for permanent social housing.
The Inspector’s decision also does nothing to alleviate local residents’ concerns about the additional traffic that will be generated by the development, particularly if a new secondary school is built on the site.
So what is Cllr Crookdake’s verdict on The Stag? “So much for a new heart for Mortlake. Once again existing residents, many of whom so badly need support with housing, are left out on a limb.”
