A large west London housing project delivering over 500 homes will no longer go ahead as planned.
Peabody has pulled out of plans to construct 564 new homes on The Green in Southall.
Ealing Council documents indicate that the developer decided the development was no longer financially viable.
The council had agreed a deal with Peabody to redevelop the site in Southall, which would have provided 267 new affordable homes. However, Peabody, citing increasing costs and expenses, says the scheme can no longer go ahead.
The council will no longer use powers granted by a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the green, and Cabinet has agreed to decommission £16 million of capital allocated to the scheme.
Peabody has cited regulation changes caused by the Building Safety Act 2022 which was put into law in 2023. Specifically, it claims that the most significant reason for its termination was the new requirement to provide two staircases in London for buildings over 18 metres.
Conservative Councillor John Gallant asked if the council will now review larger housing projects, and whether the authority ought to opt for more smaller developments citing the issues caused by Peabody's withdrawal.
Cllr Shital Manro, Cabinet Member for Good Growth and New Homes, responded: "I'm not quite sure Cllr Gallant understands the size of projects. This was a project for 535 units, which in its definition isn't a large one. We've got others where there are 2,000 units, so basically, smaller projects probably cost more."
So far, it appears that the council had been unable to find a willing development partner to develop the land, and with the CPO expiring in may 2026, the council is open to pursuing alternative options.
In what appears to be a major policy shift away from a housing focused regeneration of Southall Green, Ealing Council is now considering pursuing a more balanced "employment-led and mixed-use development" approach.
Ealing Council admits that the outcome is "regretful", however affirms that it will continue to explore options to meet the council set goal of delivering 4,000 "genuinely affordable homes."
Cllr Manro said: "There are a number of developments over the last four or five years where because of the issues around Liz Truss, in terms of interest rates, material increases, COVID, many RP's have pulled away from the market in terms of carrying on with the developments that we agreed to move forward with.
"Peabody have moved away from two developments, this one and Havelock, so we're now coming to the end in moving towards the termination the reports are very clear in protecting our interests as the council and the costs we might bear.”
