Richmond Council was asked to make four key commitments on affordable housing delivery
More than 1,000 residents have backed a petition demanding Richmond Council take more action to deliver affordable housing. Twickenham Labour’s petition called on the Lib Dem council to “become one of the best councils for providing affordable homes”.
It said the authority only completed 34 affordable homes between 2020/21 and 2022/23, according to data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with only the City of London completing fewer.
Pam Marum, Twickenham Labour’s policy officer, welcomed the council’s statement after the launch of the petition that it had more than 1,000 affordable homes in the pipeline, but warned residents needed to see “clear evidence of progress” at a council meeting on Tuesday (July 14).
Ms Marum said: “If that programme delivers completed homes everyone in this chamber will welcome it, but residents have heard ambitious figures before. A pipeline is not a completed home, a start on site is not a family receiving the keys to a secure affordable home and planning permission is not the same as delivery.”
The council’s website said the petition was signed by 1,169 residents.
Ms Marum urged the council to commit to telling residents how many affordable homes it expected to complete in 2026/27, and how many of the homes in the pipeline had planning permission, were under construction or would be completed in the same period.
She demanded the authority pledge to publishing quarterly updates on affordable housing starts and completions and confirm how many of the homes would be for social rent, which she said many families, key workers and younger residents needed most.
Ms Marum said: “People from every part of Twickenham signed that petition because they’re worried that their children can’t afford to stay here, that key workers are being priced out of the communities they serve and that too many local families are waiting too long for an affordable home.
“When we launched our campaign, the latest publicised London-wide figures showed Richmond Council had one of the poorest records for affordable housing completions in London – excluding the City of London. That is why so many residents chose to support our petition.”
Lib Dem councillor Chris Varley, Lead Member for Housing, said the council maximised “all opportunities to deliver more genuinely affordable homes”.
He said the council was not currently one of the worst performing in London for building affordable housing, as he said: “There are a number of other boroughs adjacent to us, Kingston upon Thames, Merton and Sutton, recording lower affordable housing completions, but I would rather talk about our own ambition.”
The council said in March it expected to complete more than 250 affordable homes over the next two years as part of the pipeline of more than 1,000 such homes it plans to deliver across Richmond, while it had built 118 affordable homes since 2022.
Councillor Varley said the council was putting together “an ambitious housing delivery strategy” and had applied for funding from the Greater London Authority’s London Social and Affordable Housing Programme, which would “help catalyse delivery of affordable housing”.
Lib Dem Council Leader Gareth Roberts also accused London Mayor Sadiq Khan of being the “biggest blocker” to building homes in Richmond, over housing applications he had rejected for the borough.
This includes original plans for the redevelopment of the Stag Brewery, in Mortlake, which proposed a higher level of affordable housing than the 65 that were ultimately approved by the council in a revised 1,075-home application for the site.
Councillors did not commit to the actions requested by Ms Marum at the meeting.
Are you experiencing housing issues in London? Email [email protected].
Don’t miss out on the biggest local stories. Sign up to our MySouthLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more.
