One councillor argued “wool is being pulled over our eyes” on affordable housing
Hounslow Council has approved the latest phase of plans in the redevelopment of Wireless Factory in Isleworth.
Units 1-4 and 7-8 of the factory, formerly known as Victory Business Centre, will be demolished to make way for 111 new homes. However, none of these homes will be affordable.
An independent viability review found that the developer faced a £2.794 million deficit, meaning that affordable housing would make the project unviable. However, as in phase one, the Section 106 legal agreement contains a clause which allows a registered provider to use grant funding to convert the blocks into 100 per cent affordable housing.
This is dependent on securing outside funding which has not yet been achieved and cannot be guaranteed during the planning stage. Of the 111 homes, there will be 47 one-bedroom flats, 53 two-bedroom flats, and 11 three-bedroom flats.
The scheme does not provide any four-bedroom homes despite council officers’ attempts to increase the number of family sized units beyond the three bedrooms allotted. However, the council says it managed to secure five more three-bedroom flats than had originally been planned.
Cllr Guy Lambert raised concerns about the lack of affordable housing provided in the scheme. He told the planning committee: “This is the third housing application that I’ve sat on where we’ve got a policy that will be 40 per cent, 45 per cent, 20 per cent – they vary according to who you’re talking to – affordable.
“And, the answer to all of them is ‘no affordable housing’, and it’s always because the developers can’t afford it… turning old warehouses into new flats is a very profitable business in my opinion. I think that wool is being pulled over our eyes by the industry, so I will not support this.”
Block A will be a six-storey U-shaped building, with Block B being a part-three, part-four, and part-five storey building. To protect the privacy of neighbouring residents the developers opted for a stepped profile.
This is the third phase of the wider redevelopment of the site, with phase one and two under construction – a total of 104 homes will be built in these phases. The site itself is a ‘Locally Significant industrial Site’ – this means residential development on this site would not ordinarily be supported.
However, officers deemed the loss of commercial space acceptable because over half of the site was vacant and underutilised. The development will provide nine parking spaces, four of which will be for blue badge holders.
It is expected that this would create a parking overspill of 59 cars onto surrounding streets. To combat this, the developer will contribute £400,000 to consult on and implement a controlled parking zone across the Worton Estate.
Councillor Tony Louki, Labour Chief Whip, criticised the developers for omitting balconies and play areas. He said: “I think they’re getting off lightly, developers, when they don’t put play equipment in and they don’t put balconies on every block.
Councillors voted in favour of the plans with 10 councillors giving approval. Cllr Louki and Cllr Craig Owen abstained, and Cllr Lambert voted against.
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