Green light for 36 homes in Westminster

Thirty-six new affordable homes are set to be built in Westminster after the City Council granted planning permission for the developments on Tuesday night.

The planning decision comes after Westminster City Council announced in January this year that £3million from its affordable housing fund will be used to fund the Walterton and Elgin Community Homes (WECH) project.

The project, on Westminster's Elgin Estate, W9, will provide 36 affordable homes, a new nursery, community centre, and improvements to existing residential blocks and open spaces.

The project will be an example of the creation of "Hidden Homes" in Westminster, where new affordable housing is delivered through innovative infill developments, such as building in-between properties or adding additional floors, ensuring that the best use council land is made. 

Twenty of the new affordable homes will be created through additional floors to two housing blocks at Kincardine Gardens, either side of Hermes Close, with another fourteen built from infilling space between blocks at Athens Gardens and Kincardine Gardens. 

WECH's offices will move to a new site on Elgin Avenue, and its current Harrow Road site will redeveloped into two, four bedroom homes.

Subject to planning consent, works are anticipated to commence in summer 2013 and will take 18 months to complete.

Cllr Jonathan Glanz, Westminster City Council's Cabinet Member for Housing and Property, welcomed the decision to award planning permission to the scheme. He said:

"Housing is more than just bricks and mortar, it is about people, and it is about thinking innovatively to come up with solutions to deal with the shortage of homes that we have across the capital.

"In Westminster, we need a range of new homes to ensure that we preserve mixed and vibrant communities and this project shows that in making best use of the land we currently have available, new homes can be created.

"The city will be getting 36 new affordable homes at a cost of just over £83,000 per property, which is not only excellent value for taxpayers, but crucially, it will see a number of Westminster families taken off housing waiting lists."