Transcript

Good evening everyone and welcome to this evening's meeting. I'm Councillor Clare Holland, Leader of the Council and Chair of this meeting. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live. The recording of tonight's meeting may also be used for quality and training purposes. In the event that technical issues require the meeting to be adjourned and it cannot be restarted within a few minutes, further updates will be posted on the Council's democracy. X Twitter account, which is at LBL Democracy. For members of the public, the fire exits are either side and there's a toilet out that door. So tonight we've received apologies from Councillor Jackie Dyer, Councillor David Amos and Councillor Fred Cowell. Job share voting arrangements are set out on the agenda. The portfolio for healthier communities operates under a job share arrangement. The current decision maker for healthier communities, Councillor Jack Berkey Dyer. The portfolio for equalities, governance and change. The portfolio for equalities, governance and change also operates under a job share arrangement. And the current decision maker for equalities, governance and change is Katzner and Amanda Brown. Does any councillor have a disclosable cuneary interest that they have not already declared? No. OK, great. Thank you. We'll move on to the next item. Are the minutes of the meeting held on the 24th of February 2025 agreed as a correct record of proceedings? Thank you, colleagues. The minutes are confirmed as a correct record. We'll now move on to the next item, which is the only remaining item on the agenda. And that's the new homes programme annual report. This will be introduced by Councillor Danny Adilipour, Cabinet Member for Housing, Investment and New Homes. Thank you, Chair. Cabinet colleagues are well aware of the housing crisis we're facing in Lambeth, along with the rest of London and indeed large parts of the country. Despite these challenges, we remain committed to accelerating our delivery of affordable housing on land earned by the Council, with a particular focus on social rent homes, as outlined in our housing strategy. To help in delivering this priority, we launched our new homes programme this time last year, and in its first year, the programme has seen significant success. A development agreement for Simulating Road has been secured. We've expected delivery of over 360 new homes, of which 54% will be affordable in social housing, which is a real success story from that procurement process. We've also got the new scheme at 49 Brickson Station Road coming forward, that's due to deliver around 250 new homes. And in addition, as detailed in the report, the Council is currently procuring a development partner to receive new homes that cost seven sites, including the renewal of Westbury State Road 2. And the next year, our programme will build on this progress that has been made so far. This includes the potential to deliver new homes on two former school sites and also a new work stream to help tackle the soaring costs of temporary accommodation. As we all know, have placed some pressure on our general fund, rather £100 million haven't been spent on TA in this financial year. Last year, some colleagues might remember that I set a target of a minimum of 500 new affordable and social homes on our land by 2030. Also committed to reviewing this target on an annual basis and increasing it whenever circumstances allow. I'm therefore pleased to confirm this target has now been increased to a minimum of 600 new affordable and social homes by the end of the decade. And I'm really pleased to see that included in the report tonight. So the report outlines the progress made in the first year of the programme and details our commitments for the year ahead. It sets our continuing ambition to build more high quality, affordable and social homes, ensuring that Lambeth remains a place for all residents, regardless of their income, can have a safe, secure and affordable place to live. And I recommend this report at that time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Nabil, do you want to add anything before I invite? Yes, Chair, just a point of clarification for Cabinet colleagues. So in the report, in the actual report itself, paragraph 2.10, page 23, there's a sentence that refers to MHCLG have since approved this change of use for residential housing. It should actually read Department of Education has since approved this change of use for alternative use rather than just residential use. Just a point of clarification. Okay. Paragraph 2.10. Right, that's noted, is it? Right. Okay. Thank you very much. And we also have officers in attendance with Nabil, Catherine Eames, Andrew Anderson and Alice Orr Ewing. And what I'll do is I'll take the contributions and then ask you to come to the table to answer any questions. So we have one member of the public who has indicated that they wish to speak on this. Yeah, so that's Irundib Singh, Independent Tenant and Leaseholder Advisory Service. Are you there? Can you hear us? Hi. Hiya, good evening. Great. Thank you very much for attending this evening. You're very welcome. You have three minutes in which to address Cabinet. So just start on your own time. Thank you, Councillor Holland. So this is a statement that the Westbury Resident Engagement Group have prepared to be read out at today's Cabinet in support of the residence charter that they've worked to put together over the last few months. And the statement reads that residents on our state, particularly in the low rise blocks, have been living in poor housing conditions for too long. We've been patient for a number of years, and we strongly feel that Lambeth Council needs to deliver on what they have promised to our residents and move forward with procuring a development partner to accelerate the delivery of new homes on our estate. Residents have been working closely with Lambeth Council and our independent advisors to put together the first part of the residence charter up until the appointment of a development partner to reflect the commitments and priorities that we feel are important to our community throughout this estate renewal process. Some of these commitments include learning lessons from the first phase of the development at Wandsworth Road to ensure that our homes are built to best quality housing standards and homes that are built are spacious, energy efficient and affordable to live in. We want Lambeth Council, we want Lambeth Council to ensure that the existing estate and our homes are maintained throughout the estate renewal process. We want to make sure that residents who live on the Westbury estate are prioritised. We want Lambeth Council to provide support for all Westbury estate residents throughout the renewal process, including those that are going to be housed in the next phase. And this includes access to free independent advice service and ITLA. And the main point of contact from the council. We feel it's important for the appointed developer and the council to invest in the local community, provide social value opportunities and benefits, which could include the refurbishment of a community space in Westbury Tower. And putting on events and activities for the local community. We also feel that leaseholders need to be supported and we want Lambeth Council to be committed to providing support for those leaseholders with a rehousing process throughout the estate renewal, including setting up a leaseholder steering group. We feel that as part of this charter is important that Lambeth Council adheres to all the principles and commitments that are being outlined and to review these periodically to ensure that Westbury residents are respected, involved, supported and looked after throughout the estate renewal process. We want to be provided with the best quality housing that we've been promised from the outset. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for reading that out on behalf of your neighbours and can I record our thanks for the ongoing engagement of Westbury residents and working so closely with us. we're really grateful for that. We're really grateful for that. We've got two visiting members who've indicated that they wish to speak. That is Councillor Scott Ainslie. Do you want to come up to the table, Scott? Donna Harris. Scott, you're on the order paper first. I'm going to take you first. You've got three minutes. Okay. The headline commitment here is that the previous delivery target will be refreshed from a minimum of 500 to a minimum of 600 affordable homes on council owned land by 2013. Set out in the executive summary, it's got no reference to net gain of affordable homes. We are losing affordable homes, not simply because of right to buy, but also because of the borough's projects. For example, around 100 properties left vacant in central real estate. This commitment leads to the absurd possibility that if the administration sells or demolishes 1,000 social homes but builds 600, it will have somehow met its commitment even though the borough is down 400 homes. And I can't find the words net gain or similar anywhere in the papers. Also, why does the table in Appendix 1 tally 11 less social rent homes for new ombre and each six than Appendix 2 and last year's reports? Why have you provided no explanation for this disappearance? When it comes to the housing ombudsman said that people need protection from poor quality new build housing amidst Labour's house building programmes. One example is a complaint about poor quality housing, in some cases unfinished new built affordable housing on Renfrew Road in Kennington. How will you keep developers accountable for the quality of the homes that they build? Section 1.18 reports discussions with the Minister for Local Government about balancing the HRA housing and housing delivery? Can you provide any update on these discussions? And what about your update, Chair, in your role as Chair of London Councils and the Mayor of London on clearer definitions of what is meant by affordable? Now, as I understand it from my contacts in the GLA, that the new definition, a more firmer definition of what is affordable has been decided upon, but sadly it's not in this report. Finally, I'd just like to say that will you consider trialling a Section 106 covenant that charges developers for failure to occupy a newly built unit after three months to incentivise sensible prices and to disincentivise buy to leave? Thank you. Thank you, Scott. So Donna Harris, you have three minutes. Thank you, Chair. In the finance summary, you mentioned the £40 million capitalisation direction needed to devance the HRA and then say costs are expected to exceed even considerably at the tension for certain years. Does this mean we will seek further capitalisation directions in the future? The report to Cabinet on the 24th of February said in paragraph 2.46 that this £40 million would be funded from borrowing and that assets disposals were required to fund repayment. How many council homes will you sell? In paragraph 3.3 you said it's accepted that the buyback of leasehold properties on the previous side have not been accounted for in the schemes, viability and so have the result of unfunded long-term debt costs to the GF and the HRA. How much has this cost in total, including the factors mentioned in that paragraph, such as disturbance payments and interests? Thank you. Thank you. So if you'd like to sit back, thank you both for addressing Cabinet. And if I can invite the officers to the table. And are you able to pick up any of those points? Yeah, thank you. So in terms of the net gain question and the table at Appendix 1, so this is referring to newly built homes. And I think it clearly states here social rent, other affordable market sale, other than those where we are replacing units on new generation renewal estates, they are all additional homes. So that is a net gain. We wouldn't compare those with voids and obviously we're working through voids on the renewal estates and actually have reduced those really significantly. So the table here is about a net gain of new affordable social rent and market sale homes. Thank you. There was a question about Section 106 Covenant. Yeah, thank you. So in terms of Section 106, we are looking at this. This is about the Section 106 affordable homes that are delivered as part of a wider scheme. And actually, we know that there are a number of Section 106 affordable homes in the borough which aren't let and haven't been unable to be sold. And the reason for that is that they need an RP. They need someone to take those affordable homes to acquire them from the developer in order for them to be let. And that's a real problem in the London market at the moment. So RPs, like local authorities, are focusing on their own stock and the work that's required due to the regulatory requirements and all the sort of repair work. So as a result of that, a number of the RPs in London are not looking to require additional affordable homes. So we are actually actively working with RPs and with other organisations to see how we can enable that 106 of those affordable homes to come forward. And then we can use those for our own tenants. Yeah, absolutely. Just coming on that point. So the Section 106 issue is much broader than that, but there's at latest count 18,000 Section 106 units across London that are currently awaiting RP to acquire them. And that's a conservative estimate by the GLA. So we can absolutely look at introducing covenants, but we wouldn't want to make a bad situation even more drastic, is what I would say. And on the question around affordability definitions, any sort of changes to the definition of affordable housing would come through in the next iteration of the London plan. Yes, that'll be when that'll be when any changes are made. And of course, our local plan would then be definitions of affordable housing are very clear and they're set out in the London plan as they currently are. They are very clear. Zena, did you want to address anything on the finance questions that were asked? Thank you Chair. So in terms of the programme, I think the finance comments are very clear that it has to be within the alone which is available. There cannot be a burden on the General Fund or the HRA, and therefore the schemes that will be brought forward will look at things like land receipts to ensure that those costs are covered. Those costs will include the debt costs of borrowing, because clearly some of those land receipts are forward funded because they are received in the future. Clearly, it is a challenging environment within which we will be aiming to deliver this, but the ambition is there. And it's always clear that the parameters that we've set in terms of financial affordability have to be met in all places to be living very much. Okay, so I think that I'm going to open it up to Cabinet. I just wanted to say I think it's been such a challenging time across the country with the housing crisis, particularly in London, and this is as a result of not just the lack of funding from previous governments, but the policy decisions of previous governments around scrapping the affordable homes programme, around the rent settlement of 2012 that never fulfilled what it was supposed to fulfil. And so I think it's really good news and that we have a programme that we're trying to drive forward despite all those challenges. And it's great to hear from Elondeep and residents on Westbury who say they have been living in accommodation far too long, that it's not fit for purpose. And I find it deeply, deeply disappointing that political colleagues from the Green Party have opposed our new developments, particularly when I went to Roman Rise, where I saw beautiful new homes where families are going to move in. And that we're doing this despite the opposition, and despite the fact that we've had both hands tied behind our back by government. So I want to thank council officers and I want to thank residents that have been working constructively with us in order to bring forward these programmes so that we can house the homeless of Lambeth. But I'm now going to open it up to colleagues for any questions or comments. I saw councillor Ben Kine, councillor Manley Brown, councillor Cameron. I'm going to go take those three first. Of all kind. I echo that because I'm pleased to see and hear the commitment for the delivery of Trinity Rise, which is 100% social housing. And I recall the Green Party come and launching their election campaigns on Cressingham Garden, opposing the construction of those. It's a central hill. And so you can shout it from the audience, but you did come down and do it one time on Cressingham Gardens and residents still didn't vote you in, Scott. But the question that I wanted to check in on was about an update on Roman Rise and where it is, because in the report in Appendix 2, it says that the project achieved practical completion in February 2025. Homes will be set to let early in the next financial year. And I was wondering if we could get an update on when early in the next financial year means, because obviously it's great news that there's new homes available for people to move into now on a site that wasn't being used for family homes beforehand in the same way. And I think that it's obviously a positive thing that those people will be able to move in as swiftly as possible. Just wondering if officers could give us an update on when that will. Okay, do you want to come back on that? Yeah, thank you, Chair. So I'll come back in on that and I'll bring Catherine in with more detail as well. So yes, you're right. Practical completion has been completed on Roman Rise. We're just going through our post-completion checks, just making sure that snagging or any issues that arise out of the station are being addressed before obviously we've moved into consent. But Catherine, is there anything else above that? Yeah, so thank you. We obviously did a really nice visit around Roman Rise really recently. So as Nabil said, there's just a few snagging matters that we're working through. And we've also agreed with the GLA to convert the nine that were shared ownership there to social rent. So now it's 100% social rent block. So 31 social rent units there. And we're just agreeing the local lessings plan. So that will be let the priority to those people living within Central Hill. So once those things are done, we will be going on. So I think within weeks. That's excellent news. Thank you, Catherine. Councillor Manley-Brown. Yeah, I would echo those positive sentiments as well, because I think it's the critical role that the New Homes Programme has played in tackling socio-economic inequality in Lambeth is actually really fantastic because the progress made in particular with schemes around Summer Layton, Patmos Lodge and Roman Rise just demonstrates our commitment to delivering high quality, genuinely affordable home for local residents. And it's especially significant that over 60% of the new homes at Patmos Lodge are council homes, ensuring that more families on lower incomes have access to secure housing. And at a time when, you know, too many people are being priced out of their communities. It's encouraging just to see that our pledge to review and increase our affordable housing target has risen, as already been mentioned, up until 600 by 2030. So it's a vital step in just ensuring that we are not only building more homes, but we're also doing it in a way that supports our most vulnerable residents and people who need it the most. So I really look forward to working alongside colleagues to ensure that we continue tackling the socio-economic disparities that remains central to our housing strategy. Thank you, Councillor. Absolutely. Councillor Cameron. Thank you, Chair. Mine is a general comment as well. I'm particularly pleased that the development at 49 Brixton Station Road aims to deliver impactful public benefits, including affordable housing, vibrant street market facilities. And I spoke to local shop owners and they were excited about it as it will bring much needed footfall and it will provide employment spaces that will strengthen Brixton's economy. And I'm delighted that the scheme is committed to creating social value through new jobs, paid work experience, internships and apprenticeships alongside programmes for unrepresented groups. And I'm further delighted that there's also a strong focus on maximising the London living wage jobs. And lastly, I'm pleased with the hard work that has gone into developing this Labour administration's new homes programme. Well done to all those involved and it's absolutely fantastic way forward during these unstable times. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor. Councillor Donald Stanley Anwu. Thank you very much. I don't know where Councillor Ainslie is. Maybe he is not very much, maybe not very much involved in his party's constant objection. No, I'm looking at you because you have done this. Councillor Ainslie, sorry it's not a conversation. Sorry. He didn't point in for me as colleagues are pointed out is looking at some Atlanta road. That is my board, knowing that actually the affordable housing is over 50%. You know, having looked at that or thinking, yes, you really, you know, this is a commitment as things move. We see gains, you know, a lot of people who have been able to do that. So I'm looking forward to working with Higgins who have also done wonderful exhibitions within the communities. And variation of vocations have been to those exhibitions. Everybody that I spoke to marveled about what they saw and what they're seeing. But the key potential as Councillor Cameron pointed out is those opportunities that young people particularly our mainly women who are not involved in the industry. I want to see similarities in the lead when NGATAM was developed. There's opportunities for recruiting individuals who feel that this industry embedded industry is not for them, so that the opportunity comes from them. So if there's anything you can reassure us, those opportunities that are going to emerge will generally be be created for particularly those individuals around Somaleta Road and particularly Southwick House. Okay, are you able to come back on that? I know that when I went to, um, met the Secretary of State at Barclay Homes in Apprenticeship Week, I met with young apprentices, um, apprentices, a young female apprentice from one of our secondary schools that we have been doing work, um, with local colleges in and going and that the whole pathways work that we've been doing. And so to meet someone who'd actually benefited from that programme that we've been working on was really, really interesting to hear her take on it as a young woman, um, who was still in sixth form and then progressing on to really interesting career. And I watched her lay a brick, um, and she's got a really great career ahead of her, but could you answer Donatis's point about Somaleta Road? Yeah, sure. I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll start with the sort of headline point to chair. So there's, there's, particularly for Somaleta Road and for 49 Bricks to Stocian Road, we've got two mechanisms, really. We've got, we've got the development agreement itself and through the procurement process, we went very heavy on the sort of socioeconomic value aspect as well. We ensured that apprenticeships were built in, local opportunities were built in. So there's that element, the development agreement itself, the contract that we've got with said developer, but also when it comes forward for planning, we'll have section 106 agreements in place as well. And we will then negotiate even more, you know, local, local labour construction, et cetera. And as Councillor Holland has sort of referred to, we are getting better and better at sort of, um, ensuring the pathways are much clearer to start with. Yeah, particularly young people who, who, who have got, um, uh, who, who we know have got significant opportunities ahead of them, how we can work with them from a much earlier stage, working with our further education colleges, skilling them up, then tying them into an apprenticeship with, with, um, with an end job at the end of it. So there is that sort of mechanism we've got in place. We've got the development agreement itself, then we've got the sort of planning, uh, enforcement levers, and then the team, the economy team, the skills team are getting better and better at working systems wide, ensuring those opportunities that sort of actually born, actually bore bare fruits for our residents. But in terms of your question around Summer Leyton Road, let me bring in Andrew, because he's been the project lead on that. Yeah, I mean, in terms of, uh, when we procured Hicketts in the first place, that was one of the, we had a number of evaluation questions. And one of the key ones was social value in terms of what they will provide to the council in terms of how would they benefit local residents. So that looks at training, employment, skills, also looks at supply chain as well. Within, as Nabil mentioned, within the development agreement, we will hold them to account and we will monitor that all the way through the process. I will also say that the same thing has been done for Westbury and for the new Home 6. It's really important for not only building new homes, but we need to make sure that we extract as much as we can from the developer and get as many benefits as we can for local people. Okay, great. Thank you. Okay, Councillor. Thank you. Um, that's it in window. Um, yeah, just, uh, I think reflecting on some later and I just want to echo what a fantastic achievement I think it was to achieve that 54%. Um, and also I think in my portfolio, the additional extra care places that are going to be available as well are very welcome. Um, and I guess improving that ambition with 500 to 600, I think is a remarkable thing in, um, plays market given the pressures that everybody's facing. Um, uh, I represent the Westbury Estate. I just want to say hello to Birendeep. Um, thank him for the fantastic job he's done as the independent tenant advisor, chairing the residence engagement group. Um, I think just to reflect on, I think the sense of community and coming together that that group has kind of fostered. Um, and it really feels like the Westbury estate is on the cusp of something really exciting, which I think residents are really going to be buying to have an opportunity to shape and, um, and really be proud of for the future. Um, and equally, I think the new hope six sites alongside that was sort of the same kind of excitement and engagement for local communities as well as delivering with our borough objectives. Um, just on the greens, I just want to reflect because I remember the green saying in the council chamber that there was no housing crisis. There was an affordability crisis and suggesting policies to build no new homes, but instead to purchase existing homes, which, um, I'm not sure exactly how that would work, but, um, I think with, uh, with some potential credits, uh, Councillor Ainslie, um, and understanding that sometimes politics can be played with this, um, and also acknowledging that I think the document does in a couple of places say that these are new additional affordable homes. Um, I wondered if there's anything, uh, we might be able to do in all communications going forward to try and be a bit more unequivocal that these are absolutely a net gain of homes, um, just to make sure that, uh, there's absolutely no confusion. Yeah. I mean, I read it as that, but if it needs to be spout up more, that's absolutely fine because we're really proud of it, doing that. And I'm really proud that we're a borough that is building homes. I don't agree with people who have a roof over their head standing up and saying, you shouldn't be building new homes when we have nearly 5,000 families living in temporary accommodation. It's just not acceptable. It doesn't matter what your political colour is. It's just not acceptable politics. Our homeless need housing and they need homes. And every child has a right to a home and a safe roof over their head, every single child in this borough. So yeah, we can make sure we communicate that more clearly. Thank you for that feedback, Councillor. Councillor Hashi, did you have your hand up? Thank you. Thank you very much. I just wanted to start by saying well done to, to Daniel Nibler and the team. He's really not, you know, he's a fee. It could have been nice. Council Nibler would have started off by saying well done to the team for their work before, kind of, you know, on issues that they raised. And similar to Donatus and him, I also wanted to say, you know, last year, the year before when the Somerlane got called in, we heard how much for local residents and local people for the scheme started. And to read the document and see that is an absolutely amazing feat. And, you know, I really wanted to say again to Danny in particular, I think it's amazing that we need to start increasing from 500 to 600 when it would have been a real easy and lazy win just to leave it there. And again, I just wanted to say thanks for the team. It's not being said enough. Absolutely. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Rosina Chowdhury. Thank you. I'm just really delighted to see Streatham Hill East on this list and really excited that there's going to be 94 new homes in my ward over half of which are going to be social or affordable, which is brilliant. And also I'm struggling to hide my delight at the fact that these homes are going to be built on an old car park, which is brilliant, which again is a huge bonus because it goes towards our decarbonisation and making sure that cars don't come into Streatham as much. So yes, wins all round in Streatham Hill East. Thank you, Councillor. I see no more hands up. Danny, did you want to come in and finish up? Just a few closing remarks. Thank you colleagues for your support and comments, which are welcome. We just want to stress again the point about some of these projects, particularly Roman rise, you know, where we've seen in the face of green opposition, new homes being delivered. And Councillor Ainsley doesn't like us pointing it out, you know, but let's not forget the Green Party tried to barricade an empty building to stop those new homes being built. And sadly, the truth is that across local government, the Greens have an appalling record when it comes to new homes. Let's look at what they've done in Bristol, where they came to power and they pulled apart Labour's plans to deliver new homes and cancelled 170 new council homes in a dodgy backroom deal they did with the Conservative Party. And Councillor Ainsley's energies would be sent to serve rather than nitpicking with us, actually focusing on his party's record. Because all I'd say to Councillor Ainsley and his party is that if you continue to deny the scale of the housing crisis, if you continue to block our efforts here to get new homes built, and if your party continues to cancel plans to get new homes built, your party will be judged as being on the wrong side of history. We're going to get on with the job and get new homes built. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. Thanks very much, Councillor. Okay, so if no one else has got anything to add to that note, I can't see anyone in the podium. We're going to go to recommendations. Yeah. Okay. So, colleagues, the recommendations for Cabinet this evening are on page 13 of the agenda. There are five recommendations, so I'm not going to read them out. It's all in the report, but I need to just pull out one, which is to approve the residence charters for Westbury estate renewal to make sure indeed realise it's cognizant that that's in there as one of the recommendations we're voting on tonight. So, can I ask colleagues, are those five recommendations on page 13 of the agenda agreed? Agreed. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, team, for the ongoing sterling work in this area. Thank you, Councillor Dillapour. I just have one more thing to say. Hold on. That concludes this evening's business. The next Cabinet meeting is scheduled to take place Monday the 7th of April, and I wish happy St. Patrick's Day to all who celebrate, and may they celebrate in style tonight.