No sole developer yet for South Kilburn as number of social homes set to reduce

 

 

South Kilburn Masterplan (The Guardian)

 

Guest post by a South Kilburn resident

Report of South Kilburn Regeneration meeting held on the 18th September 2024.

 

The council announced that they have not appointed a sole developer yet for all the remaining sites of the South Kilburn Regeneration programne.

Currently there are  3 sites being developed with:

(1) 46 social homes for rent out of a total of 328 homes at The Peel site 

(2) 72 social homes for rent out of a total of 209 at the NWCC`sit

(3) 18 homes for social rent at the Granville/Carton site but I do not know the total number of remaining homes.

 

(NWCC is Neville, Winstanley, the Carlton Centre and some of Carlton House).

The South Kilburn Promise was to provide a 50\50 ratio of social homes to other tenures but at these 3 sites the numbers of social homes has fallen way below the 50% ratio.  Also the overall aim of the South Kilburn regeneration is to increase the number of social homes in South Kilburn by 800 by the end of the programm but this target may not be achieved either.

The next site to be developed will be The Hereford & Exeter site but not until 2026 as the council are still discussing with the GLA over funding issues and it would also need the sole developer to be appointed to develop the site.`

All the remaining sites are waiting to go to planning with the next one being The CCZ site being submitted in 2025. (CCZ is Craik, Crone & Zangwill House.)

Finally, there are still 284 tenants waiting for a new home in South Kilburn.

The council also reported on anti- social behaviour issues at Unity Place which only opened in 2019. They have appointed two Block Champions to monitor Unity Place, which has over 300 tenants and leaseholders living there.

Before the first Masterplan was published in 2004 the council said that developing the South Kilburn estate would eradicate all the anti-social behavour elements living there at the time. Something seems to have gone wrong as antisocial behaviour issues are rampant across the estate.

Appointing unpaid tenants as Block Champions to deal with all the issues affecting South Kilburn blocks  will not solve the problem and what we need is more police to visit the estate, along with council safety teams on a regular basis.

As the 20th anniversary of the South Kilburn regeneration approaches where do things stand?

The 'Gateway' to the new South Kilburn - a work with little progres so far 

The South Kilburn Tenants Steering Group met inDecember so that tenants could hear an update on the South Kilburn Regeneration that started almost 20 years ago with the launch of the Masterplan LINK and may take another decade to complete.

 Extract from the Masterplan

 

Like other council developments in Brent there is a possibility of tenure change, with more private sales, to ensure viability. There also appear to be problems with the deliverability of the planned new school that would replace Carlton Vale Infants and Kilburn Park Junion school buildings.

From January 9th on Wembley Matters

As previously reported the Council is consulting on ending the South Kilburn Promise (Landlord Offer) for new temporary accommodation households and the use of void properties on the South Kilburn Estate for temporary accommodation. At present the Council incurs a £0.6m charge on South Kilburn void properties.

The South Kilburn regeneration itself is threatened by a viability crisis:

Viability is a key challenge for the remaining developments within the South Kilburn programme. The Single Delivery Partner approach is being explored to help provide certainty for the programme and provide economies of scale for the delivery partner.

Negotiations are going on regarding the purchase of the Falcon and Queens Park car park pub site: LINK

The Council has announced a decision  for the Corporate Director for Comminities and Regeneration to make an offer to Londonnewcastle to acquire the Falcon pub site, previously seen as a key site forming a gateway to South Kilburn.  Its acquisition along with the car park opposite led to the HS2 vent being controversially located within the estate next to a primary school.

In the Minutes of TSG meeting below I have underlined the number of social homes expected although I suspect that figure may reduce and needs to be considered along with those being decanted from existing blocks.

The arithmetic does not look hopeful.