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Resurrecting plans
Merton Council is asking for £300k to resurrect plans for four new developments that will provide new homes in the Borough. They see value in the developments and understand how important it is to boost the local housing stock.
The original proposals were by Merton Council’s own building company, Merantun. They got planning permission in 2020. However, the local authority chose to close Merantun in January 2021. It made the move following the failure of Brick by Brick, Croydon Council’s development company. Their struggles were showcasing that the model for developing sites in-house was not working. Most notably the cost of doing it this way was soaring and the expected returns falling.
While Merantun is no longer operating, the council still sees the benefits of the developments. Instead of doing the building in-house, they will look to form an agreement to sell off the four sites with planning permission. This is for a total of 93 flats. The sites in question are Farm Road in Morden, Canons Place, Elm Nursery and Raleigh Gardens in Mitcham.
Meeting present regulations
However, before they can proceed Merton Council need to make the planning permissions meet present regulations. As we said above, the four proposals got approval in 2020. There have been several policy changes since then. So, more funding and work is necessary to update the plans.
One council report said that the extra £300k and changes to the proposals would speed up new homes being constructed on the sites. The money will get the design team to return and will help to get the consultations necessary for the updates.
If the requests for the extra cash gain approval, then the new up to date plans should be ready by March 2023. According to the report, there is a need to supply affordable houses in the quickest possible time. This is to respond to the cost of living crisis and housing shortage. By updating the plans now, it will also increase the marketability of the sites in the eyes of housing associations.
An options appraisal
Something else the report said was that an options appraisal for these sites is presently being done. This is currently set to go before the cabinet later on in the year. It may include selling off those sites with planning permission or directly delivering the plans as the local authority if it can be viable.
Merton Council’s target is to construct over 400 genuinely affordable properties. They want to do this on surplus land in the borough by 2026. Back in December, the council said that after selling off those four sites with planning permission it had five more plots of land. These have yet to be named.
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