Previous Shape housing march in south London (Photo: Charlie Kimber)
Housing secretary Angela Rayner boasted last weekend that Labour is taking “radical steps to overhaul the planning system to get Britain building again”.
She said that Labour would implement fines for developers who buy council land and don’t use it.
Developers will cry out against the mild fines, but the action won’t address the housing crisis.
In fact, the Labour government and councils are still working with developers who fuel the crisis.
In the Labour-run borough of Southwark in south London, for example, there are more people waiting for council homes than over 20 years ago.
There, Berkeley Homes is redeveloping Aylesham Centre in Peckham.
Initially, its plans were to have 35 percent “affordable housing”—a vague term used by ministers and developers.
These would be barely affordable for many working class people, but Berkeley has slashed its “affordable” offer to just 12 percent.
The Southwark Housing and Planning Emergency (Shape) group is campaigning against inappropriate private developments in the borough. The development of Aylesham will tear apart the local community—and the complete lack of council homes will mean the housing shortage will not be addressed.
Its immediate demand is for 50 percent of housing built on private land to be council housing, and 100 percent built on local authority land.
In nearby Canada Water, developers are building 4,000 new homes—but just 25 percent will be social housing. And only 25 percent of homes in another development, Borough Triangle, will be socially rented
Shape has called a demonstration in Peckham this Saturday.
19 homes have been destroyed and at least 19 more damaged
Another Blairite gimmick
Human rights groups say the sentences are 'torture'
