14.06.18
Lambeth to create 738 homes on brown-field site
London’s borough of Lambeth now has planning permission for 738 new homes.
A Grade II listed gas holder— in which natural or town gas is stored at ambient temperatures— will be dismantled, restored and rebuilt as part of a new scheme that will create the new homes, as well as work space and public landscaped areas. A third of the homes built will be affordable.
The redevelopment of the brown-field site in Kennington will create commercial space, accommodating 1,000 new jobs, and during the development more than 5,000 construction jobs will be created. Lambeth residents will be prioritised in the candidacy process.
During the work, the former industrial land, which has been restricting other development around the site, will be decontaminated.
The Oval Gas works site redevelopment application was made by Berkeley Homes and approved by the council’s planning applications committee this week following lengthy discussions with Lambeth Borough council.
The development of the wider area under the Oval and Kennington Development Area Masterplan was endorsed by the authority in December 2017.
A new block of flats will be built within the frame of the listed gas holder on the site, and other gas holders will be decommissioned as part of a nationwide strategy to remove them because they are no longer needed.
The government has set an ambitious target of building 300,000 new homes a year in order to address the country’s housing crisis.
Cllr Matthew Bennett, Lambeth cabinet member for planning, investment and new homes, said: “Bringing this polluted, largely vacant land into use for desperately needed new homes, as well as new offices and public spaces, delivers major benefits for the both Kennington and the wider borough.
“This significant piece of land will be integrated it into the local neighbourhood for the first time in 150 years. Nearly 200 of the new homes built here will be for genuinely affordable and social rent, as we use all our powers as a council to tackle the housing crisis.”
New pedestrian and cycle routes will open access to the site for the first time, and safe streets will be created.
The Greater London Authority has backed the scheme.
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