Winstanley & York Road estates, Wandsworth

759 homes on Wandsworth's Winstanley and York Road estates have been approved for demolition, to be replaced with 2,550 homes with just 36% affordable housing of which only 484 social rent.

The two neighbouring estates are located near Clapham Junction station across 11-hectares, comprising a range of high rise buildings, large rectangular blocks and smaller two to four storey blocks. The proposed redevelopment also includes York Gardens (an area of designated open space), the York Gardens Library and Community Centre, the York Garden’s nursery a Baptist Church, the Thames Christian School, a doctor’s surgery and a number of small retail units.

The scheme is being progressed in a joint venture between Wandsworth Council and developer Taylor Wimpey.

Wandsworth has avoided the Mayor's requirement to ballot residents on the demolition of their homes by avoiding to apply for grant funding. The Mayor's ballot requirement only applies to schemes that require grant funding - although applying for grant funding is itself a requirement of the Mayor's London Plan.

The planning application approved in January 2020, provides for only 484 of the 2,550 homes proposed in the new scheme for social rent, although a further 100 would be for affordable rent, 222 would be shared ownership and another 86 would be sold through shared equity schemes.

The Mayor's report ignores his requirement for schemes to apply for grant funding and says that he is satisfied that, while the proposals involved a net loss of social rented units, the new homes would be larger, representing "an uplift of 154 habitable rooms".

The Mayor's report is not clear about the rent levels of the 484 social rented homes - it only says those taken up by returning tenants will be at social rents:

The viability assessment submitted to justify the claim that the scheme can't meet the Mayor's requirement of 50% affordable housing, confirms that the developer is estimated to receive over £200m profit:

Links:

Mayor's stage 1 report: - https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/planning-applications-and-decisions/planning-application-search/york-road-and-winstanley-estates

Mayor's stage 2 report: - https://gla.force.com/pr/s/planning-application/a0i4J000002RqoBQAS/20206193?tabset-c2f3b=2

Jan 2020 Planning Committee report - https://planning2.wandsworth.gov.uk/iam/IAMCache/5261134/5261134.pdf