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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST FOR THIS ITEM:

 
None

 

RESOLVED:

 
That
Cabinet:

Approved the addition
of the former Stamford Hill Primary School site to the
Council’s Housing Delivery Programme.

Noted that approval
of pre-contract budgets was within the delegated authority of the
Delivery Director. The Pre-Contract Budget included all costs to
take the project up to the award of a construction contract at
Gateway 3.

 

Reasons for Decision

 
Delivering a new
generation of genuinely affordable Council homes was an important
corporate priority for Haringey Council. The Borough had committed
to an ambitious Council home-building programme that would deliver
3,000 new homes by 2031. This was in direct response to the
national housing crisis, which had left thousands of households in
Haringey in need of a genuinely affordable home.
 
The Council was
already making great strides towards this target: as of August
2025, 797 council homes had been completed as part of this
ambitious programme, with around two-thirds of these new homes
welcoming tenants and their families during the current calendar
year. This new housing was changing the lives of residents,
providing households with affordable, warm, and secure homes in
their community.
 
In addition, the
needs-led programme provided further benefits to the
Borough’s vulnerable residents and the wider community.
Around 200 homes were “bespoke homes” co-designed with
tenants with mobility or other welfare needs. These homes included
adaptations designed to support tenants in their daily lives, for
example, through the installation of height-adjustable worktops or
specially designed bathrooms.
 
To help tackle the
climate change emergency, homes were built to high sustainability
standards, including green roofs, air source heat pumps, PV solar
panels, and electric vehicle charging points. Wildlife planting,
new trees, and landscaping were included as part of housing
schemes. As part of the placemaking agenda, the programme delivered
additional infrastructure benefits to the existing community,
including a new GP health centre, playgrounds for local children,
new walkways and public bridges, and commercial spaces for local
businesses.
 
This track record of
delivery represented an outstanding achievement for Haringey
Council given the difficult economic climate for the construction
industry over the past few years.
 
The addition of this
site outlined in section 1 of this report provided an opportunity
for the Borough to continue its progress towards its 3,000 new
homes target and provide much-needed affordable housing to
residents on the housing waiting list. It also allowed the Council
to explore the provision of more “bespoke homes” for
some of the most vulnerable residents and to consider potential
community-wide improvements that would benefit existing residents
as well as new residents who might move into the new homes.
 

Alternative Options Considered

Not including this
site in the Council’s Housing Delivery
Programme
This option was rejected because one of the Council’s top
priorities was the delivery of a new era of council housebuilding.
Excluding this site from the development programme would have
undermined the Council’s capacity to deliver new Council
homes.

Disposing of the
site

This option was rejected because disposing of the site to a private
developer could have reduced the number of affordable homes that
could be built by the Council.