‘Zero affordable housing’ scheme for Kingsland Fire Station site approved by planning committee
Due for demolition: Kingsland Fire Station
The closed Kingsland Fire Station will be demolished and the land it sits on will be redeveloped with no affordable housing – despite warnings that a “sizeable profit” stands to be raked in by stakeholders including wealthy landlord the Benyon Estate.
The firm is in charge of part of Conservative MP Richard Benyon’s family’s property portfolio. It is managed by the MP’s brother Edward Benyon and comprises some 300 properties in De Beauvoir Town.
The fire station was closed as part of cost cutting measures by Boris Johnson during his time as Mayor of London – a decision that sparked stiff opposition from Labour and has provided an ominous backdrop to wrangling over the site’s future and outrage that it could now be used to generate private profit.
In a letter about the scheme, passed last night by the planning committee, Labour councillor James Peters wrote to Labour-controlled Hackney Council warning that the plans were “a travesty, a mockery of the council’s policies and an insult to those people throughout the borough”.
Under the proposals, which were unanimously approved by members of the planning committee last night, 68 dwellings will be constructed and sold at market rate.
A primary school with places for up to 350 pupils will also be built and will be operated by Hackney New School.
When the plans first came to light, MP Meg Hillier wrote to Education Secretary Justine Greening to ask her to consider the need for affordable homes for teachers.
“On this site, it [the Education Funding Agency] has a golden opportunity to deliver both a school and homes for teachers,” she wrote.
A spokesperson for the Education Funding Agency, which owns the land, said project costs would be published after the school is built, and a Hackney Council spokesperson said the planning application had been approved subject to Section 106 agreement being finalised.
‘Overpaid’
The applicants will now contribute £1.5 million to build affordable housing elsewhere in the Hackney, but there will be none on the site, the council has confirmed.
Cllr Peters today told the Hackney Citizen: “They tell us that this is coming out of their profit, which falls from industry-standard 15-20 per cent to 11 per cent.
“For the viability assessment the council didn’t use the £16 million paid by the Education Funding Agency but the council’s own £5.3 million valuation. EFA clearly massively overpaid.”
Commenting on the planning approval, Edward Benyon of the Benyon Estate said: “This is excellent news for the whole community and we are very pleased to be part of this very important project which will be key to giving our young people a great start in life.
“The Benyon Estate’s links with Hackney date back to 1640, during which time there has been a long history of serving and supporting this community, particularly providing homes and buildings for people to live and work.
“One of the biggest challenges we face as a community today is putting the right infrastructure in place for future generations and a key priority is helping to educate our young people.”
Speaking about the scheme last year, he added: “Under the terms of the partnership, any profit The Benyon Estate can make is strictly limited and will be used to support our ongoing development and renovation projects in the area.”
Hackney New School chairman Andreas Wesemann has said the development is not a profit making exercise for the school, adding: “We are running a school, we are not developers.”
In a report to the planning committee council officers said the scheme was “considered to have a positive impact on its surroundings” and would “create an outstanding landmark and gateway along Kingsland Road”.
They added: “Locally, the scheme would reinforce this local node around Haggerston Overground station and the diverse mix of uses at this junction.
“The harm to neighbouring conservation areas (De Beauvoir) is considered limited and less than substantial.
“The scheme is considered having no harm to the setting of the nearby Grade II listed crescent of terraced houses.”
This article was updated at 11:38 on Friday 13 January 2017, to add an updated statement from Edward Benyon.
“a travesty, a mockery of the council’s policies and an insult to those people throughout the borough”.
It is no suprise as Femi Nwanzi, the planning officer responsible for the scandalous approval of Whatcott Mews in Stoke Newington. In which she first failed an application stating that it “would adversely affect light and outlook….to an unacceptable degree, reducing the quality of life of these residents” whilst the ink was still drying she mislaid her report and submitted another almost identical one. This time everything was rosy she omitted all the damage it would cause to the surrounding properties because (on paper it was to be reduced in height by a whopping 8 inches) She has never explained how this reduction (which was never carried out) would have made any difference. She “mislaid the Secretary of State for the environments refusal which went in to more detail about the damage such a project would cause and criticised her use of outdated policies.
She passed the second application 4 days before the deadline she gave to objectors in order to by pass the Secretary of States decision to refuse. She lied about measurements and distances in her approval and she ensured by deceptive and misleading correspondence that no one would be at the NC to object. She then allowed the project to be 7.2metres high (she had failed it at 7.1 and passed it at 6.9) She was forced to admit that the project was in breach of Hackneys planning laws – but the council would not be persuing the developers ullmayersylvester architects (who live at the development and are friendly enough with her for her to be travelling around in their car on a Saturday). The main reason for her not persuing is that she would be uncovering her own corruption and the fact that Hackney council awarded the architects £4K of council tax payers money for their “environmentally friendly” “light filled” development.
Oddly enough though her reason for passing was a fictionalised reduction of 8 inches and she allowed it to exceed this by 14 inches, she has now given permission for this development (which is in breach of Hackneys planning regs) a further approval to build a third floor which will add at least a further 2.4 metres to the height. She has given the architects a special right of privacy not to show this on Hackneys website. She is able to do this because she has now been made Head of planning.
In her own words “The perception of being severely overlooked would be very intrusive and harmful to the amenities of those residents”
I was told at the time that my case (affecting around 25 homes) was the tip of the iceberg (the councillor was sacked for telling me). So now we have a criminal in charge of our planning system you can expect more outrage from her department in the coming fututre.
The people of Hackney should ask who or why anyone would give such as dishonest person such a major role in the quality of our lives and insist that they all resign out of shame!
PS be careful to record yourself if you are unlucky enough to speak with Ms Nwanzi (I was fortunate enough to do this) and straight after she accused me of threatening her “in words and tone” She only dropped the words when I revealed I had recorded her and could prove 100% that this was just aanother of her endless lies.
Really the Police need to get involved! It’s the only way to stop what has become a fifedom! They ignore there own policies because they can and there is nobody to stop them or enforce them to behave above board.
The richest politician in parliament is part of the family grown. Is it any wonder there is little affordable housing in their development? Shameful.
…family firm, sorry for typo
And the rich get richer! This whole deal stinks. Take money from a developer who is too greedy to give any affordable housing on the site and assuage your guilty conscience, Hackney Council. You should be very ashamed. At least Councillor James Peters spoke out against this appalling behaviour but sad to see it had absolutely no effect on the outcome. Greed, greed and more greed.
Vacant building credit? The developer cash cow is running dry.