New homes next to Southwark Tube

I'm very glad that SE1 published this story (thanks SE1 - you keep us all in touch) but am furious that in point of fact there will be ONLY 9 - yes NINE! - actual new Council homes. Why oh why is it that the Labour councils of Southwark (and Lambeth) continue to defy their mandate (from us voters) to build REAL, new social housing? And how do they continue to get away with it?

It's not the case that there will be nine new homes.

The proposed new tower contains 25 council homes, but you have to offset that against the demolition of the eight flats in the low-rise 'chalets' facing The Cut, and the removal of one flat in the main Styles House tower as part of the wider project.

The net number of new council homes is more complicated, as TfL currently owns some of the flats in the chalets (which they 'inherited' from their former development partner) and these flats will be returned to the council as part of the land swap.

Whichever way you look at it, there will be a considerable gain in net council homes.

I apologise for getting my sums wrong!
There will be 25 minus 9 new homes = 14. Not 'considerable' in anyone's books especially given the vast (and growing backlog).

What I think is different here is that it is the council tenants and leaseholders of Styles House who have drawn up these plans for new flats and they don't want to overbuild on the land. (I think it's more a case of them developing it themselves to stop commercial developers and/or the council overdeveloping the site. )

the real achievement here is the community-led council house building.it might only be 16 new homes but 100% affordable (council rent) for people in need. thanks to the community project board who has spent so much time and hard work on it.

Thanks James for clarifying the rather complex situation with this project. The plan is to build new 25 council homes. The council will take over ownership of the four properties TfL owns in Styles House, so it’s a net gain of 29. Eight studios will be demolished, but one is a leasehold flat so it’s a net loss of seven council flats and the actual extra number of new council homes is 22.

This is a very small site. Residents will experience a negative impact from the build, which is very close to the windows of the flats on the East side. We focused on protecting the gardens at Styles House, hence why the building is tall and thin. There is simply no other option to build more flats without making this very small site much more overcrowded and having an even more negative impact on current residents. I am proud that we have managed to fit in as many flats as we have and that residents here enthusiastically voted for this scheme, despite the impact on us.

These are the first council homes to be built in borough and bankside (and the old cathedrals ward) for many years and as others have said, this is a scheme led by the residents in Styles House. Hopefully residents on other estates will be given the opportunity to develop more council homes in the same way we have.

Someone has posted some good photos on twitter: https://twitter.com/breese1london/status/1364586982920323078 also link to the planning page with all the documents.

A remarkable achievement by Styles House TMO. IT’s a pity though that the development is tied in with the TfL development over the station. Why were the council unwilling to work solely with the TMO to develop on this land? The council has the money otherwise they wouldn’t be promising to build 40,000 new homes (or whatever the number is now). If the Southwark Station development doesn’t get planning permission, as I understand it, the Styles House development won’t go ahead; let’s hope therefore, that the council will agree to go ahead with the scheme if this happens. The residents at Styles House deserve it because they have worked incredibly hard over many, many years to find a solution to the constant threat of greedy developers wanting to buy up a piece of this land.

Karen is right, the council is quite happy to sit back, let TFL pay for the new council flats to be built then have it run by a volunteer TMO board management committee. the flats would be up and running already if LBS had spent the section 106 money from the hundreds of luxury flat build in se1.by the way, what happened to that money?

Actually, I have another question/point. Has the land swap happened or is this also dependent on the TfL plan? And, if so, what happens if they don’t get planning permission, or decide not to build on the station? Would that mean part of Styles House is occupying TfL land? It could all become very messy.