Wandsworth Draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy

Response from The Battersea Society Planning Committee

Introduction

We give below our response to the five themes and would be happy to engage further should this be helpful. Overall we support and welcome these priorities.

1. Council Tenants and Leaseholders

We welcome the emphasis on housing management, and the increase in resources for it; also the stress on engagement with residents, and life-time tenancies We also welcome increased investment in capital works to improve estates, in some of which damp and mould remain real problems, and agree that energy efficiency should also be a priority. We also urge a more regular programme of routine maintenance. We know of one estate where there was a 20-year gap in routine maintenance and suspect this is not unusual.

This lack of maintenance can lead to another concern, that some schemes have been held up because leaseholders cannot afford the significant contributions they are required to make, sometimes when the work is not actually needed to their property.

2. Building More Homes

We welcome the More Homes for Wandsworth programme, and the focus on high standards. However, we urge stronger controls on the construction quality of new housing. We are aware of too many cases where tenants and leaseholders have had to move out of new units for exetended periods while major construction problems are rectified. We also note that there is no mention of the importance of dual aspect properties and the need for good daylight ratings. In our experience affordable housing in high-level building is often provided on the lower floors and has poor daylight ratings.

The Local Plan is mentioned within the introduction but the strategy fails to emphasise the importance of the Housing and Planning Departments working closely together. This co- operation is vital in meeting housing needs through building programmes, the design of those schemes and the housing within them (we could see no mention of the importance of good design in the strategy) and more widely, including where housing is within Conservation Areas. It is to be hoped that some of the increased staffing within the Housing department can be tasked with understanding the planning requirements of the work they do; and with liaising as appropriate with their colleagues in Planning and Conservation.

We welcome the efforts to secure 50% affordable housing (with focus on social rent) from developers; but the text needs to recognise the difficulties with viability assessments. New draft London Plan Guidance on Affordable Housing may help, as is the management training and transparency proposed by the GLA in relation to viability assessments.

It is a matter of concern that there’s no mention of housing mix, and the desperate shortage of family-sized units. This is increased by the challenges posed by large-scale shared living developments, and of large student accommodation developments. While we welcome provision of properties which help people get on the housing ladder, it is essential that further rungs on that ladder are available within Battersea – and Wandsworth more widely – so that our area does not become simply a short-term stop for single people.

3. Improved Standards for Private Renters

We welcome the proposed discretionary licensing scheme; the increased emphasis on dealing with rogue landlords; and the empty homes programme We would support further measures to tackle the problems associated with renting: both insecurity of tenure and problems with Airbnb and similar schemes. We will watch with interest the growth of build-to-rent private accommodation with its emphasis on longer-term tenancies which we trust will include accommodation for families as well as smaller households.

4. Homelessness and Rough Sleeping

We welcome emphasis on prevention and support, and on working with a variety of agencies to that end. We recognise difficulties caused by increasing use of Council properties for temporary accommodation and note the marked increase in rough sleeping in some areas, especially Clapham Junction.

5. Residents with Additional Needs

We welcome the stress on close working relationships between housing, children’s and adult social services.

We are concerned that there is no mention of the London Plan benchmark for Wandsworth of 120 specialised units a year for older people. A target of 40 units over the next 3-4 years is not acceptable. There is also a need for a social rented equivalent of the private sector Retirement Village accommodation which is increasingly being built across London. Added provision would help with down-sizing, freeing up properties for younger people. Mary Court would be a prime candidate for refurbishment but appears to be under-occupied and increasingly neglected