A West London council has announced further delays to building 101 new social rent homes because of spiralling costs. Kensington and Chelsea Council’s housing lead Sof McVeigh said the timeframe for completing the New Homes Programme, which includes 300 social rent properties, had to be “stretched” and hinted at working with developers to see the scheme through.
When MyLondon contacted cllr McVeigh to clarify the new timeline and further explain her comments, it was directed to the council press office, which said there had been no committed date for completing the entire scheme. A report by the council shows works at Latymer Church, Edenham Way, Walmer Road and Lancaster Road have been frozen as the local authority grapples with rising energy costs caused by the war in Ukraine, the price of construction materials as well as a labour shortage of skilled trades like plumbers and plasters and interest rate hikes.
Speaking to housing committee colleagues on Tuesday (February 6), Cllr McVeigh said: “As you specifically know, Chair, after the Grenfell tragedy, my predecessor, [cllr] Kim [Taylor-Smith], made a commitment that the council start delivering new homes again. What we did not envisage at the time was that the running tide of world events drastically pushed up construction costs to a record level and has seen inflation at a generational high. That has really impacted our programme.”
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Analysis carried out by the LDRS shows that when market-rate homes are considered, 186 properties will be put on hold. Cllr McVeigh is also into talks with adult social care to turn the development at St Helens Gardens into an “old people’s home”, she told colleagues on Tuesday after a council report showed the project had been scuppered due to issues with the party wall and planning conditions.
She added: “We’ve always said we were going to build on council land… but that is vanishingly small so I think the delivery might be more through working with some of the larger land masses that we have, which developers own. I would still like to stick to the 600 but it might need to be delivered in slightly different ways.”
The lead member is also asking for a cash boost to finish works at Silchester Arches. She and a council officer said delays in negotiations with Transport for London to access the site, combined with the rising cost of building materials, meant the cost of the project had increase.
It comes after the council delayed moving tenants into newly-built homes on Hewer Street and Kensal Road by almost a year, analysis of previous reporting by MyLondon shows. The council blamed these delays on “utility issues”, public transport strikes, and complex construction work.
The council’s New Homes Delivery Programme seeks to build 600 new homes including 300 for social rent, alongside key worker, open market homes to rent and other community and employment facilities, the council’s website shows. The homes will be built in three phases with 194 promised by the end of 2025 and will provide some of the first homes in decades the council has built and run itself.
A statement by the councillor read: “Despite the challenging climate in which we are working, we are still committed to delivering safe and secure homes as part of our New Homes Programme, and that at least half of them will be for social rent. We are always looking at the best way to deliver new homes for our residents especially in the current climate where, like other councils, we have been faced with rapid inflation and increasing costs across the construction industry.
"This has meant some sites have been paused while we work out the most efficient means of delivering new homes and facilities for our communities. We are already working with development partner, Mount Anvil to deliver the Lots Road scheme in the south of the borough. We were delighted to welcome tenants into our first new homes at Hewer Street last year, with more due to move in during 2024.”
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