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Harlow to buy Essex block a London council wanted to acquire
Harlow Council is going to buy a private development that a London local authority said it was planning to purchase last year, it has been revealed.
The council said it has exchanged contracts with developer Hollybrook to buy the 172-home Burnt Mills building, with the deal “set to be completed in the coming days”.
It comes after a Newham Council document revealed in December that the local authority wanted to buy the block to ease temporary accommodation cost pressures.
Following this, Dan Swords, leader of Harlow Council, told Inside Housing he would do everything he could to prevent Newham going ahead with its plan.
He said London boroughs are sending thousands of people to the area, while Harlow is struggling to find properties for its own homeless households.
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This week, the council said it has “worked around the clock” to stop Newham from acquiring the block and has “instead moved to ensure that the new high-quality homes are available for Harlow residents”.
The development includes 172 one and two-bedroom apartments.
It was originally intended as a build-to-rent scheme, and this will remain the case, the council said. All homes will be available to anyone who lives in Harlow.
Just over 50 of the flats will be allocated to Harlow families on the housing needs register at affordable rent levels – at least 20% below market rent.
A further 120 homes will be available to Harlow residents at market rent levels.
Newham had planned to let “at least 50%” of the flats at Local Housing Allowance rent to homeless households currently in temporary accommodation.
Harlow said it will also look at schemes to meet different housing needs of residents, including the town’s NHS workers and other local key workers.
The council said the mix of affordable and market rents is based on a “prudent financial model”, which makes the purchase financially sustainable and will “ensure that repayment plans are met”.
Mr Swords said: “We have worked extremely hard to buy this private development for the benefit of Harlow residents.
“I’m sure most people from the town would have read or heard the news that Newham Council were working on a deal to buy this building. I said that we would do everything we could to block that deal and we have moved quickly to buy this development instead.
“This is all about putting the housing needs of Harlow residents first and standing up for our town.
“This is an impressive and modern development, which has been built to a very high standard and is located on a key gateway in and out of Harlow.
“The original development was always intended for the rental market with just over 9% being affordable housing.
“We will be increasing the amount of affordable housing to 30%, with those homes allocated to Harlow families on our housing needs register, with the rest being available for Harlow residents to rent.”
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