A developer building hundreds of new properties next to Camden Market has asked the local council for permission to more than halve the amount of affordable housing it includes within the project.
The scheme, located at Camden Goods Yard on Chalk Farm Road, received planning approval in its current form in early 2023, superseding an earlier permission granted in 2018.
The developer, St George - which is part of the Berkeley Group - had until now been promising that of the 644 planned homes, 203 would be classed as ‘affordable’. But earlier this year, it requested approval from Camden Council to reduce the total number of homes to 637, of which only 83 would be affordable.
St George argues that without making those changes, the project’s viability would be threatened and it would need to be “paused” - delaying the delivery of any type of housing on the site.
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A viability assessment submitted by St George and authored by the consultancy Quod states that recent years have seen “significant changes in development economics nationally and at the site” including “regulatory changes, unprecedented build cost inflation, falling real terms sales values… reduced building efficiency due to the [requirement for tall buildings to have a] second staircase, finance cost increases, taxation increases and net zero carbon contributions”.
The assessment adds that “the events of the past seven years and the negative outlook for the next 12-24 months means that… St George needs to find a way to mitigate the commercial risk and improve the viability of the project”.
If the council refuses to allow the reduction in affordable properties, “the development will therefore be paused after completion of the current phase” of building, the document warns. Approving the developer’s request, on the other hand, would “unlock completion of the wider permission and delivery of the public benefits associated with it”, it claims.
The assessment also points out that housing delivery in Camden has persistently fallen far short of demand, saying: “Put simply, there is a housing crisis in Camden and this can only be resolved by [the] delivery of more homes quickly. Completion of more homes serving any part of the market will... benefit households at every level of the market, from those wanting the highest cost homes to those needing the most affordable homes.”
As well as requiring permission from the council however, the request also needs sign-off from mayor Sir Sadiq Khan’s office, due to the size of the scheme.
The mayor ordinarily requires at least 35 per cent of homes to be classed as affordable on any given project, measured by total ‘habitable rooms’. The proposed reduction at Camden Goods Yard means that the scheme would fall below that threshold, at only 15 per cent.
City Hall planning officers last week said that Quod’s viability assessment - which provides their evidence for why the project can no longer deliver as much affordable housing as planned - is being “robustly interrogated”.
In a formal objection to the application, local Labour councillor Patricia Callaghan said she was “deeply concerned” by the developer’s request, as Camden has “many families and individuals who are waiting to be rehoused”.
Ms Callaghan, who also serves as the council’s deputy leader, added: “Many are living with family members in seriously overcrowded conditions. Many are living in the private rented sector again in difficult conditions with ever increasing rental payments.
“This situation has a knock on effect both on our diversity within our communities and our schools, families just can’t afford to live in Camden anymore! So we are having to close schools and the rich diversity we prided ourselves on in Camden is being eroded.”
St George’s application will be considered by Camden Council’s planning committee in the coming weeks, with City Hall then deciding whether to allow the borough’s decision to stand.
