Cash-strapped Hackney council is believed to be considering selling a vacant part of the Woodberry Down estate to a commercial developer. Hackney has £88m debt and is owed £147m in outstanding receipts.
The council was to have passed the plot to regeneration quango English Partnerships. EP had promised to build 350 affordable homes there to house tenants during refurbishments. Negotiations on how much EP would pay for the site are believed to have stalled, leading Hackney to consider selling it on the open market.
This means the scheme to redevelop the rest of the estate into more than 3500 homes, 2377 of which were to be social housing, could hit the buffers.
Lorraine Braniff, chair of the Woodberry Down Estates Development Committee, said nothing fewer than 350 affordable homes would be enough to allow the scheme to progress. The programme is already set to take 10 years – a smaller number of spare homes would make it unworkable, she said.
She continued: "The issue is whether Hackney's director of finance is making the decision. We've had great support from individual councillors at Hackney who realise the importance of the project, but at the highest level in Hackney there's not openness or interest in Woodberry Down."
Braniff said tenants were very unhappy about the delays and were cynical about the borough's motives. "Tenants think the site is seen as a valuable acquisition to gain funds for the council at the expense of the local community."
A spokeswoman for English Partnerships said: "Discussions with the council are continuing about our potential role in the project."
Hackney council said it remained committed to the project. Councillor Jamie Carswell, cabinet member for housing, said: "This is a huge project with a very exciting future, and we regret the fact that things have not progressed as quickly as we would have liked. We are doing everything we can to find a solution."
An ODPM spokeswoman confirmed that Hackney had outlined its position, but declined to comment further.
Source
Housing Today
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