London mayor Sadiq Khan has used City Hall’s new £250m land fund for the first time to buy St Ann’s Hospital in Haringey.
The site, owned by Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, will deliver up to 800 homes, 50% of which will be affordable, alongside new hospital facilities.
The Greater London Authority intends to become a more active player in the London land market, directly buying sites to increase the amount of affordable housing being developed. The money then secured from selling on the land to housing associations, councils and Community Land Trusts will be used to buy more land.
At St Ann’s, the existing planning permission secured in 2015 was for 470 homes, and with only 14% affordable on the 27.7-acre site.
Khan said: “As mayor, I have set out how City Hall will take a more active and direct approach to unlocking sites across the capital. Late last year I announced my plans for a new land fund to buy sites – and at St Ann’s we are showing what this can achieve.
“Not only will my intervention unlock this site, but it will also allow us nearly to double the number of homes, and crucially increase six-fold the number of affordable homes that had previously been given planning permission.”
City Hall will provide redeveloped NHS facilities on the site, including a new mental health inpatient building. Planning permission for the health facilities was granted by Haringey Council on Tuesday night.
There has also been significant community interest in the site. The GLA said it is committed to working with local organisations, including St Ann’s Redevelopment Trust, to deliver affordable homes for the local community.
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