Housing minister Brandon Lewis has announced £250m of funding for the delivery of private rented accommodation in the capital.
Speaking at the London Real Estate Forum, Lewis said: “These deals will deliver 1,353 new homes specifically for private rent in some of the capital’s most sought-after locations, meeting the needs of tenants well into the future.”
The funds will build 903 homes for rent at Stratford’s Olympic Village, E20, 278 at Newington Butts in Southwark, SE1, and 172 across sites in Hammersmith, W6, Westminster, W1, and West Kensington, W14.
The keynote speech was centred around speeding up planning and incentivising developers.
Lewis said he has no plans to change the National Planning Policy Framework but he wants to reduce red tape and put an end to the threat of rent caps.
Deputy mayor of London, Sir Edward Lister, agreed that planning departments needed to change, and said: “We support local authorities charging more for planning fees because they are grossly underfunded.”
However, he caveated: “There are some London boroughs who are prevaricating. In some instances it takes a year for an application to be processed and that is not ok.”
Lewis also defended the Right to Buy initiative from Patrick Jenkins, financial editor of the Financial Times, saying: “Developers say Help to Buy means we can move away from the cyclical nature of housing because it evens out demand.”
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