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Notes  from  1st  Meeting  with  residents  @  the  Westbury  Estate  

Date:  04/11/2014   Time:  7:30pm  

Chaired  by  Elaine  (Chair  of  the  TRA)  

Non-­‐resident  attendees:  

-­‐ Cllr  Linda  Bray  -­‐ Cllr  Christopher  Wellbelove  -­‐ Neil  Vokes  (Lambeth  Council)  -­‐ Dilan  Alpasha  (Lambeth  Council)  -­‐ Marcus  Shukla  (Lambeth  Council)  -­‐ Gregory  Thompson  (Lambeth  Living)  

 

1) TRA  Committee  members  election  à  Chair,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  were  re-­‐elected.  2) Councillors  Bray  and  Wellbelove  to  provide  posters  with  their  contact  details  and  

date/time/place  of  their  surgeries  3) Neil  Vokes  explained  that  Lambeth  Council  has  an  objective  to  build  1,000  new  homes  at  

council  rent  throughout  the  borough.  The  Council  has  identified  a  number  of  estates  where  there  is  strong  potential  to  improve  existing  housing  stock  while  building  more  homes.  The  Westbury  Estate  is  one  of  those  sites.  

4) Next  Steps:  -­‐ Housing  Needs  Survey:  asking  residents  about  their  living  situation/energy  

bills/number  of  children/  what  they  think  of  their  home  and  community  etc.  -­‐ Site  survey  and  building  assessment  (roof  conditions,  building  materials,  life  span  

etc.)  -­‐ Appointing  urban  designers  to  look  at  the  site  and  the  land  around  it  and  to  consult  

with  residents  before  proposing  various  options  on  how  to  improve  the  site  and  potentially  build  more  homes.  

5) It  has  been  suggested  to  set  up  a  monitoring  sub-­‐committee  to  ensure  that  consultation  with  residents  is  going  well.  When  the  survey  takes  place,  the  sub-­‐committee  should  review  the  survey  outcomes/results  

6) In  order  to  reach  out  to  all  residents  communication  must  be  in  written  form  and  not  only  online  as  not  all  residents  have  access  to  the  internet.  

 

Questions  raised  by  residents  at  the  meeting  and  responses  from  Lambeth  officers  and/or  councillors:    

a) What  about  green  space  in  and  around  the  site,  will  these  areas  be  built  on?  -­‐ The  park  adjacent  to  Westbury  is  in  the  borough  of  Wandsworth  so  it  will  not  be  

considered  for  new  homes.  The  land  within  the  estate  will  be  considered  though.  The  Council’s  designers  will  come  back  in  January  once  initial  consultations  with  

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residents  have  taken  place  and  site  assessments  carried  out  to  produce  some  initial  drawings  of  proposed  options  for  the  estate.  

b) Will  the  Greater  London  Authority  be  funding  this  development?  -­‐ The  1000  homes  commitment  forms  part  of  the  Council’s  Labour  Party  manifesto.  

The  Mayor  has  slashed  funding  and  reduced  the  GLA’s  commitment  to  provide  affordable  housing.  

c) There  are  rumours  going  around  that  the  whole  estate  may  be  demolished?  -­‐ The  Council  will  consider  replacing  some  of  the  existing  homes  if  it  can  be  

demonstrated  that  this  either  enables  significantly  more  homes  at  Council  rent  to  be  built  or  where  there  are  existing  homes  which  do  not  meet  the  needs  of  residents  (i.e.  too  small,  or  overcrowded)  

d) If  people’s  homes  do  get  knocked  down,  will  they  be  moved  off  somewhere  else?    -­‐ If  the  Council  decides  to  demolish  and  rebuild  homes  then  Council  tenants  affected  

will  be  guaranteed  a  new  home  on  Westbury  at  Council  rent  levels.  -­‐ Leaseholders  will  also  be  given  options  to  remain  on  Westbury.  

e) If  you  need  to  leave  your  home,  will  you  be  offered  a  like-­‐for-­‐like  home?  -­‐ Yes,  depending  on  need  -­‐    if  you  need  more  space  (overcrowded)  you  may  be  

offered  a  bigger  home;  while  if  your  flat  is  under-­‐occupied  which  is  causing  a  reduction  in  your  housing  benefits  because  of  bedroom  tax  then  you  can  opt  to  move  into  a  smaller  home.    

f) There  must  be  some  idea  of  what  the  plans  are  for  the  site.  Can  you  share  some  initial  plans/proposals  with  us  at  this  stage?  

-­‐ The  idea  of  exploring  the  opportunities  on  Westbury  was  triggered  when  an  affordable  housing  developer  approached  the  Council  to  discuss  developing  residential  units  on  the  part  of  the  site  where  the  garages  are.  After  further  discussions  within  the  Council,  particularly  at  the  Council’s  Better  Homes  Board  (a  committee  of  councillors  and  officers  which  makes  decisions  on  housing-­‐related  matters)  it  was  determined  that  the  Council  would  approach  the  residents  of  Westbury  right  at  the  beginning  of  the  process,  purposely  before  any  plans  have  been  drawn  up,  to  involve  the  residents  from  the  get-­‐go.  

g) How  far  will  the  residents’  views  be  taken  towards  any  proposals  made  for  the  estate?  -­‐ As  mentioned  earlier,  one  of  the  Council’s  main  objectives  is  to  develop  at  least  

1,000  new  homes  at  council  rent  over  the  next  5  years.  With  a  growing  population  and  with  a  shortage  of  space  in  London  and  within  the  borough  of  Lambeth,  we  will  need  to  take  some  difficult  decisions  to  allow  more  affordable  homes  to  be  built  for  those  who  need  them  and  for  future  generations.  New  homes  will  very  likely  be  built  in  the  Westbury  estate  but  the  priority  is  not  to  compromise  on  the  quality  of  life  of  existing  residents.  

*  A  schedule  of  consultation  activities  will  need  to  be  shared  with  the  residents  as  soon  as  possible.  

h)  What  about  leaseholders?  What  about  the  value  of  leaseholder  properties?  -­‐ The  Council  will  talk  to  leaseholders.  Different  options  will  be  offered  to  them  with  

the  opportunity  to  remain  on  the  estate.  Discussions  with  individual  leaseholders  will  need  to  take  place  to  understand  their  specific  circumstances.  

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i) Why  is  the  Council  proposing  to  provide  some  homes  at  private  rent?  Why  aren’t  all  the  new  homes  at  council  rent?    

-­‐ The  Council  will  borrow  money  to  build  the  new  homes  and  use  the  rental  income  to  pay  back  the  borrowing  (just  like  a  mortgage).  In  order  for  the  scheme  to  be  financially  viable  there  is  a  need  to  have  some  homes  at  private  rent  to  help  pay  for  more  affordable  homes.  

j) Where  will  people  be  housed  in  the  interim  if  they  need  to  leave  their  home  and  wait  for  a  new  home  to  be  built?  

-­‐ Realising  how  stressful  moving  can  be,  the  Council’s  aim  is  to  move  people  only  once  (in  other  words,  if  a  household  needs  to  move,  the  goal  is  to  move  them  from  their  existing  home  directly  into  a  new  home,  rather  than  have  them  stay  somewhere  temporarily)  

k) What  about  social  and  physical  infrastructure/facilities  required  to  support  more  people  living  at  Westbury,  e.g.  parking,  GP’s  ,  schools,  nursery  spaces  etc.?    

-­‐ Improved  facilities  and  infrastructure  could  be  developed  as  part  of  this  scheme  which  goes  beyond  housing  –  we  need  to  determine  what  the  community  needs.  

l) What  about  the  garages?  They  are  all  rented,  and  some  people  use  them  for  storage  as  storage  space  is  scarce  especially  in  the  towers.  

-­‐ As  mentioned  earlier,  there  is  a  shortage  of  space  in  London  as  a  whole  and  so  there  will  be  trade-­‐offs  and  priorities  will  need  to  be  set.  These  are  issues  that  could  be  raised  with  the  design  team  once  the  consultation  starts  and  options  could  be  provided  to  integrate  storage  space  into  new  buildings  or  other  parts  of  the  scheme.  

m) What  will  be  done  to  address  the  environmental  impact  of  development  on  the  site  e.g.  cutting  down  trees,  reducing  the  site’s  open  space,  overcrowding?  There  is  also  an  issue  with  access  –  there  is  only  one  vehicular  access  route  in  and  out  of  the  site.  

-­‐ Surveys  will  need  to  be  carried  out  as  soon  as  possible  to  assess  the  land  in  and  around  the  site  and  to  assess  the  situation  underground  (Heathbrook  river?).  

n) If  demolition  is  going  to  take  place  when  is  it  likely  to  happen?  -­‐ It  is  too  early  to  comment  on  if  and  when  demolition  will  take  place  but  a  rough  

timetable  of  upcoming  activities  includes:  • Nov-­‐Dec  2014:  Site  Surveys  &  Housing  Needs  Assessment  • Jan  2015:  First  design  consultation  • May/June:  Likely  to  have  a  decision  on  what  happens  on  the  site  

-­‐ A  detailed  schedule  of  key  milestones  and  activities  will  be  prepared  and  shared  very  soon.  

o) What  will  the  format  of  communication  be?  -­‐ Dilan  will  take  notes  and  circulate  minutes    -­‐ Drop-­‐in  sessions  will  be  held  at  Westbury  by  Neil  and  Dilan  -­‐ Workshops  will  be  arranged  for  residents  to  meet  with  consultants/designers.  There  

could  be  workshops  for  specific  topics  such  as  sustainability  for  those  who  are  interested  in  particular  issues.  

-­‐ We  could  arrange  visits  to  other  schemes  e.g.  Angel  Town  that  could  be  useful  for  residents,  councillors  and  officers  to  see  what  has  been  done  on  other  successful  schemes.