The planning application has been submitted for “Your New Town Hall”. Cllr Paul McGlone said it was “an important milestone.”
Muse Developments Ltd, the property developer in charge of the project, have submitted two planning applications, which are expected to go before Planning Committee at the beginning of August. If approved, work could start before the end of the year.
The plans, which are also part of Future Brixton, include a 14-storey block of flats in the place of Hambrook house, the demolition of Olive Morris House to make way for a seven-storey block of flats with 74 residential units, replacing part of Town Hall parade with a new civic centre and the renovation of Grade II listed Lambeth Town Hall.
Around 200 new homes will be built as part of the project, which includes a development on Wynne Road, and 47 per cent will be affordable housing.
Lambeth council says the reduction in its core office buildings from 14 to two will save the taxpayer £4.5 million per year in the running costs of their civic buildings.
Some have criticised the height of the height of the block of flats where Hambrook House should be, made clear in objections from the public on the planning application. One commenter wrote: “a building 14 storeys high would look completely out of place” and another said it would “dramatically change the character of central Brixton.”
However, Cllr Paul McGlone said: “Let me be clear, we are building new council homes in the heart of Brixton, as well as offering intermediate housing as an affordable way for local people to get a foot on the property ladder.
“The needs of our residents, rather than politicians or council officers are driving this project. It is a smart deal for Lambeth.”
.Beyond the points raised in the previous comment, it would be useful for us residents to know how many
of the 200 homes will really be Council homes. Alsoi how many will be intermediate housing- and whether access to those will be restricted to eg people long on the housing waiting list- or in practice another hand-out to our booming tide of yuppie incomers. And of course exactly what the Council means by affordable- given that for many of us the tag “affordable” has so far been a sick joke.
Given the rate at which poor long-term Brixtonians are being driven out by Lambeth Council housing policies- whether its demolition at Cressingham Gardens (against tenants first option choice), eviction and mass sales of properties previously occupied by short-life coops, or granting planning permission to the
Housing Associations to become property speculators. Or indeed shunting the homeless into totally unaffordable private sector (so in practice into other boroughs, away from their jobs, their children’s schools, and their support networks it’s hard to take the so-called Labour Councils pronouncements seriously.
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It is not possible for we council tax payers to judge whether or not the NTH project is a smart deal because we haven’t the slightest idea as to the nature of the financial arrangements between Lambeth council and Muse Developments . This was raised at each of the “consultation” meetings and each time the answer came that this would be provided.but no such information has been forthcoming.As it stands, we have no idea as to what assumptions were used in arriving at the £4.5 million a year ‘savings’; no idea as to what other options were considered; no idea as to the allocation of risk in the project; no consensus as to what is meant by ‘affordable’ in actual terms; and no idea as to the council’s projections for its own headcount numbers over te next 5-10 years.
There is always a clear line between progressive, well thought out developments and mere vanity projects. One would have hoped that a ‘co-operative’council would have cooperated with local residents to ensure that the line was not crossed. I am afraid that it may well have been and not in a good way