Sir Sadiq Khan has been urged to intervene over plans to build tower blocks up to 44 storeys high in south London, as councillors warn the development will contain an “unacceptably low” amount of social housing.
The controversial ‘Borough Triangle’ scheme, which will see the construction of 892 new homes, was narrowly approved by Southwark Council at a planning committee meeting last week.
In order to proceed however, the development still requires sign-off from the Mayor of London, due to its height and number of homes proposed.
The plans include 77 homes available at an “intermediate” level of affordability and 153 homes at a social rent. The remaining 662 properties are set to be sold off at market rates.
The council’s Lib Dem opposition leader Victor Chamberlain, who represents Borough and Bankside, said: “When Borough Triangle got approved last week, we said that we would keep fighting for affordable housing and standing up for local residents. We meant it.
“There are over 2,800 families in SE1 alone on the social housing waiting list. For fewer than one in five homes to be available for social rent is simply unacceptable.
“There is a version of the development that could deliver genuinely affordable homes we need, whilst protecting heritage sites – but so far Labour have let developers get away with putting profit first.
“That’s why we’re calling on Sadiq Khan to urgently step in to ensure that the development of Borough Triangle genuinely delivers for local communities in Southwark and across London.”
In its report on the project, officers at Southwark Council concluded that if the developer were to provide more affordable housing, it would threaten the scheme’s viability as a whole.
The report states: “The quantum of affordable housing has been tested by the council’s own viability assessor, and is considered to be the maximum that can be achieved on the site.”
But the report also acknowledged that there were heritage concerns associated with the scheme. It noted, for example, that for someone looking across the Serpentine in Hyde Park towards the Houses of Parliament - a designated World Heritage Site - the development would appear “overly dominant” in the background and would cause “a degree of harm” to that view.
Regarding the development’s impacts on daylight, officers found that it would bring “moderate and major adverse effects to neighbouring properties”, due to the shadows cast by the towers.
Local resident and actress Juliet Rylance told the Standard: “We as the Borough community remain gravely concerned and distressed.
“It’s a development that - as per the planning officers’ own report - will cause significant harm and leave lasting major adverse impacts on neighbouring council estates, playgrounds, heritage assets, the conservation areas to the north-east and west of the site, so it’s significant…
“This scheme is only technically compliant with the Southwark and London Plans for [affordable] housing, by 0.1 per cent by habitable room. I think that’s just not good enough.”
Ms Rylance, known for her television roles in The Knick, McMafia and Perry Mason, added: “This should not be a case of ‘community vs developer’... There is a compromise that needs to be sought and this community is dedicated to helping our leaders find it.
“We implore our mayor to seek an amendment to this proposal, one that truly benefits this community and wider Southwark, that supports us now and for the many generations to come.”
City Hall would not be drawn on whether the mayor had concerns about the scheme. A spokesman for Sir Sadiq said: “In due course when the application is referred, the mayor will review whether to call in the application for his consideration.”
