A MULTIMILLION-POUND project to ease Hackney’s housing crisis is about to go to the next stage: shovels and cement.

Fourteen developments are planned and this week the first 11 of hundreds of new homes were approved by the council’s planning sub-committee.

The 11 flats will be built at Mandeville Street, Clapton E5 0BP – five for social rent and six for shared ownership. Hackney council described them as “high-quality”, despite the uninspired postmodernist design. Never mind, sometimes architecture can grow on people.

Plans to convert a former council office at Whiston Road, Haggerston,  to council flats, were also approved by the planning subcom. This marks a departure from a policy of the previous mayor’s Labour regime.

Such small developments will have little impact on the housing crisis in the borough, which has 13,000 households waiting for homes. But it is just the start of a new programme of council housebuilding on under-used land, including garages, car parks and depots around Hackney.

More than 400 homes will be built at 14 locations. They will be funded by the sale of other properties.

Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville press-released: “The proposals… will be life-changing for local families in desperate need of a place to live.”

Hamish Scott 180118

* Backstory: LibDems stand up for young renters; Huge rise in Hackney evictions, say Greens; New Era Estate sees off wealthy MP; Work for nothing for Hackney Homes; Hackney scores millions from flop housing plan; Hackney shuts door on offices-to-homes

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