Affordable housing in Elmbridge reaching crisis point (From Surrey Comet)

Affordable housing in Elmbridge reaching crisis point

3:40pm Friday 30th July 2010

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The lack of affordable housing in Elmbridge is approaching crisis point, with about 2,000 applicants for properties being turned down each year.

The figures were revealed by the Elmbridge councillor in charge of affordable housing at a planning meeting on Monday, July 26.

Councillor James Browne told the meeting 2,300 people in the borough were applying for about 300 Elmbridge Housing Trust affordable dwellings every year.

He said: “The Government has gotten rid of artificial housing targets, which is a good thing, but it hasn’t magicked away people seeking affordable housing.

“Currently, 1,700 people are applying for affordable housing, while 600 housing trust tenants are seeking a transfer. The number of properties becoming available in any year is 300. This means there are 2,300 applicants for 300 properties.”

Councillors at the planning meeting were discussing a joint application from the housing trust and developer Octagon to build 13 luxury houses on housing trust land in Wootton, Esher Park Avenue, Esher.

Until two years ago, the site housed elderly people in affordable accommodation, but is now deserted.

The original property on site was owned by the late Lady Carr, who left the house to what was then Esher Council, on the provision it was used to house the elderly.

But last year, Octagon struck a deal with the housing trust, allowing it to build the luxury houses on the land if it provided 114 affordable houses on other sites in Claygate, Walton and Weybridge.

These three other sites have planning permission for affordable housing, but a lack of funding from the Government has so far prevented development from going ahead.

Although the application was supported by the council’s joint heads of housing, planning officer Alex King recommended the proposal be refused because the offer did not include affordable housing on site, a requirement for housing applications.

Although Coun Browne pleaded with councillors to ignore the officer’s advice, it was refused after five voted against the proposal and four supported it.

Coun Browne said: “The demand for affordable housing in Elmbridge is overwhelming. This development proposes 114 extra houses. The people most in need cannot wait for the Government to assist in the funding of building housing on other the sites.

“I fear the three sites waiting for development will not be developed unless this application goes through.”

Tory Councillor Tim Grey, who eventually abstained during the vote, told the meeting it was the hardest planning decision he had ever come across during his time on the council.

While he agreed the need for affordable housing was urgent, he said affordable housing on site stopped the “ghettoisation” of communities, where the rich and the poor are cut off from one another.

This view was supported by Lib Dem Councillor Michael Courtney, who said the Wootton site was the perfect place for affordable housing.

He said: “This site is in the centre of Esher. It is close to good transport links and shops and an ideal site for affordable housing. We will not gain any other site for affordable housing.”

However, fellow Lib Dem Councillor Jimmy Cartwright said supporting the application was justified because of the quantity of affordable housing that would be built elsewhere.

He said: “I don’t think anyone in this room is waiting for affordable housing. This borough is desperate for it and approving this development is one way of getting it quickly.”

Although the application was refused, councillors who supported the scheme used their powers to send it for further consideration at a full planning meeting.

Guy Greaves, chairman of the Sandown Avenue Residents’ Association, said residents supported the proposal, but denied they wanted to get rid of social housing in Esher.

He said: “The offer of 114 affordable houses is magical and should be grabbed with both hands. If affordable housing remained on the current site, there might be about 12 houses, so this other offer is fantastic. There is no other prospect of that sort of development happening in the next few years.

“My mother knew Lady Carr and this scheme would be a way of her social goodwill prevailing.”

A spokesman for Elmbridge Housing Trust said: “The trust believes that affordable housing should be a high priority. Elmbridge is the second most expensive borough, outside London, in the UK and it is extremely difficult for people to get on the housing ladder.

“We are working with developers to ensure more local affordable homes are built to create more quality rented accommodation, as well as encouraging more shared ownership schemes.”

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