Investment to safeguard new Council housing at Britannia
Plans for the former Britannia Leisure Centre will include additional Council homes for local families after Council proposals to ensure the flagship Britannia project still delivers much-needed social housing, despite previous proposals being blocked by the government, were approved
The Hoxton site, which is empty after the Council opened a state-of-the-art new Britannia Leisure Centre overlooking Shoreditch Park last summer, will now include 81 genuinely affordable homes for social rent and shared ownership under proposals agreed by the Council’s Cabinet this week (15 March).
The changes are a result of the Council committing extra investment to build these homes on the former Britannia Leisure Centre site and increase the number that will be made available for social rent compared with previous plans from 48 to 51.
This comes after the government stalled plans for these 81 social rent and shared ownership homes to be built elsewhere in the Britannia project after refusing permission to repurpose land at Shoreditch Park Primary School. This government decision to not allow two blocks to be built at the school was despite a £7.1 million mitigation package being agreed with the school, including a brand new Early Years Centre, a multi-use games area, and an increase in the amount of play space.
The changes also reduce the number of outright sale homes which are helping fund the wider Britannia project – including the leisure centre, social housing, and brand new secondary school – in the absence of government funding.
Our ambition for the Britannia project has always been to deliver a state-of-the-art new leisure centre, a brand new secondary school, and on-site, genuinely affordable Council homes for the local community.
With new education and leisure facilities already delivered and proving a huge success, this commitment will guarantee that the flagship Britannia project helps provide Council homes Hoxton and Hackney desperately needs.
These will be delivered despite over a decade of austerity, the continued absence of external funding, and the government’s failure to fully recognise the huge benefits our previous proposals would have brought.
The existing plans for the former leisure centre site, which included only outright sale homes, were approved by the Council’s planning sub-committee last month. Updates to these to include Council homes are due to be submitted for planning permission later this spring.
