Redbridge given £20m to build at least 200 council houses
The council hopes to build housing as soon as possible with the money. Picture: Gareth Fuller - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Redbridge has been given £20million to build at least 200 council homes by the Mayor of London’s office.
The funding comes from City Hall’s first-ever scheme dedicated to council homebuilding which will see more than 11,000 new homes created across the capital from a £1billion pot of money.
Council leader, Councillor Jas Athwal said he was delighted to receive confirmation of the funds from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and believes it will help to accelerate the 1,000 new affordable homes the administration has promised to build.
“I am immensely pleased for the residents in my borough who are desperate to have a secure roof over their heads,” he said.
“We have been working closely with the mayor’s team on his council homebuilding programme - we put in a bid for £10m and I am delighted to announce that we will now receive £20m.”
You may also want to watch:
Redbridge has historically had a relatively small council house stock and the new funding will be ploughed immediately into delivering the new homes.
The Mayor of London already announced that Redbridge would be able to retain more of its right to buy receipts and this announcement will mean a further boost for much-needed housing.
Most Read
- 1 Safeguarding concerns at 'outstanding' Atam Academy in Chadwell Heath
- 2 Have you seen this 52-year-old man missing from Ilford?
- 3 Derelict pavilion in Goodmayes Park destroyed by fire
- 4 Growing public support for tougher pet theft sentences
- 5 Police and council join forces to help raise Covid awareness
- 6 Council must pay £4,500 for failing disabled brothers
- 7 Double murder accused remanded in custody over ‘brutal’ stabbings
- 8 Royal Mail lists six Redbridge postcodes hit by Covid postal delays
- 9 CCTV still issued of man sought in 'vicious and unprovoked' attack in broad daylight in Barkingside supermarket
- 10 Welcome to Chadwell Heath Spartans, a true family football club
“My administration has committed to delivering 1,000 affordable homes over the next four years and this funding from the Mayor of London is a brilliant outcome for Redbridge and testimony to the hard work of my team and our officers,” Cllr Athwal added.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “London’s housing crisis has been decades in the making - but we are showing what difference councils can make by working closely with ambitious leaders like Jas.
“The funding announced today will help Redbridge build a new generation of council homes, and if the government gave us the money and powers we need, we could go much further still.”
In October, prime minister Theresa May announced plans to lift the cap on the amount councils can borrow to build more homes at the Conservative Party conference.
Previously responding to the annoucement, Cllr Athwal said he will look at the details of the plans more closely but anything that removes government bureaucracy and gives local authorities more freedom to deliver housing that residents “so desperately need” is welcomed.
