Hackney,
29
July
2022
|
11:35
Europe/London

Hackney is building: new De Beauvoir Estate Council homes given green light

Nearly 60 local families will benefit from a brand new Council home after plans to transform underused land on the De Beauvoir Estate were given the green light. 

The plans, which were approved by the Council’s planning sub-committee on Wednesday night, represent the first phase of regeneration at the De Beauvoir Estate and include 189 much needed new homes across five sites as well as wider improvements to the existing estate. Half of the new homes will be Council homes for social rent or shared ownership, with the remainder sold outright to help pay for them because of the lack of government funding. 

The five sites due to be transformed include two unused depots, garages, car parking spaces, and a former tenants and residents association building that will be re-provided as part of the new developments.

The designs were shaped by local residents during more than four years of consultation. Council tenants living on the De Beauvoir Estate will be given first dibs on the new Council homes where their current home doesn’t meet their needs, for example due to overcrowding or for medical reasons. 

These new Council homes will be delivered alongside a large investment into existing homes, improvements to communal spaces, new landscaping and play space, a replacement community space, a new commercial space and nearly 500 cycle storage spaces. 

Hackney is facing a real need for new homes that meet the needs of our growing community. Many families in or around the De Beauvoir Estate live in homes that don’t meet their needs. 

These plans will not only provide modern, suitable and genuinely affordable homes within the community, but are also part of a wider investment to provide improved homes and better community facilities so the whole estate can benefit.

Despite the challenges caused by Brexit, coronavirus, the cost of living crisis and a continued lack of government funding for social housing, Hackney is still building – I’m proud that the Council is still working to deliver the next generation of Council homes and overcoming the government’s continued failure to invest in new Council homes.

We are as determined as ever to not just deliver on the current housebuilding plans but to expand them further. Every new home that Hackney is building, for social rent, for Hackney Living rent, for shared ownership or for outright sale is an opportunity for a local family to have a safe, secure and long-term roots in the borough, keeping our borough a place that all of us can be part of. 

Cllr Guy Nicholson, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Delivery, Inclusive Economy and Regeneration

These homes are part of the Council’s wider plans for De Beauvoir Estate, which include over 300 new homes across two phases, a new neighbourhood office, commercial space for local businesses and enhanced public spaces. The Council are working with the local community to develop the plans for Phase 2 and you can keep updated and find out more at hackney.gov.uk/de-beauvoir-estate

These homes will add to more than 1,000 homes started or completed by the Council since May 2018. More than half the homes the Council builds are for genuinely affordable Council social rent, shared ownership or Hackney Living Rent.