Boris must intervene on lack of affordable housing in Twickenham Station plans (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Boris must intervene on lack of affordable housing in Twickenham Station plans

January 7, 2012 10:03 AM

Knight • [Jan 06]: MAYOR of London Boris Johnson should use his powers to ensure that the development of Twickenham Station includes affordable housing, in line with his London Plan policies, according to Richmond Council's Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader.

Conservative members of Richmond Council's planning committee voted to grant permission for 115 luxury private flats and houses at Twickenham Station on 19^th December, without a single affordable home. Both the Mayor's London Plan policies and Richmond's own Local Development Framework policies would normally require at least 50 % of homes in a development of this scale to be affordable.

Cllr Stephen Knight, Leader of Richmond's Liberal Democrat Group, said: "The development scheme for Twickenham Station approved by Richmond's Conservatives not only fails to meet the council's own planning policies, but fails to meet the Mayor's London Plan policies on the provision of affordable housing. The Mayor of London should therefore now use his power to direct refusal of this development on the grounds of failure to comply with his London Plan policies on provision of affordable housing.

"We all want the station improvements, but we also have a dire need for more affordable homes to tackle a rapidly growing problem of overcrowding and homelessness in the borough. It is therefore a scandalous lost opportunity that this scheme includes not a single affordable home. There is no reason why this development could not be adapted to include a high proportion of affordable housing if the council were to use its housing capital budget to subsidise this element of the scheme. Sadly the Conservative administration has so far refused to even consider this proposal."

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