I popped over to Leybridge Court this afternoon for the opening of the Broomleigh show home on the estate.   Broomleigh have fitted out an empty flat so residents can get a preview of the improvements that are planned if residents say ‘yes’ to stock transfer.

The show flat looks great - really nice kitchen and bathroom, smart new front door, and plenty of choices so residents can personalise it (the photo shows Sule from Broomleigh showing me the various kitchen options available).   

Plenty of residents dropped in to have a look, and they all seemed really impressed with the deal that the resident steering group have negotiated with Broomleigh.

If you live on Leybridge, Merridale, Woodville or Rose Way or Silk Close do pop along and have a look.  The flat’s at 122 Leybridge Court (8th floor, blue block).   The opening hours confirmed so far are:

• Sat 31 May, 11 - 1pm
• Mon 2 June - Wed 4 June, 2 - 5pm
• Thu 5 June 2 - 6pm
• Sat 7 June 2 - 4pm
• Mon 9 June - Thu 12 June, 10 - 12

There’s also a show flat on the Newstead Estate - which I mentioned a few days ago.

As you may be aware, residents on two estates in Lee Green are developing proposals to transfer their homes from council ownership to Broomleigh - a not for profit housing association who have pledged to invest £28million pounds to improve the estates.

Residents on the Newstead Estate can now see how their home could look if they say “yes” in the ballot to be held later this year. Broomleigh have opened a show home to show residents the new kitchens and bathrooms they propose to install.

The show home is at 40M Burnt Ash Hill and will be open at the following times:
Tue 27 May - Thur 29 May 2-5pm
Mon 2 June - Thur 5 June, 10 - 12
Mon 9 Jun - Thur 12 June, 2-5pm
A show home on the other transfer estate - Leybridge Court - will open later this month.

Your councillors are supporting the stock transfer proposals which have been drawn up by residents working with Broomleigh. The proposals are far in excess of any investment the Council or Lewisham Homes can offer, and residents have received guarantees about rent levels and their rights as tenants.  

People sometimes ask me what Councillors do in Lewisham now we have an Executive Mayor.    Well, apart from all our work locally in Lee Green, plus planning, licensing and other statutory committees, we also take part in overview and scrutiny - reviewing the administration’s policies and also suggesting new ways forward.    A good example would be the work the Sustainable Development Committee did last year on individual alternatives to car use (I should declare an interest as the Vice Chair).

One of the things we’re planning to do this year is to carry out an in-depth review of Empty and Under-Used Properties in the borough, with a focus on identifying the extent of the problem, and looking at ways to reduce numbers.  

We’d like to know about any problematic empty or under-used properties (either commercial or housing - this may also include lock-up garages) that you are aware of in Lee Green ward, particularly problematic examples (e.g. concerning noise or nuisance issues; environmental concerns; longstanding under-use or emptiness, etc.).

All the examples we gather will be fed into the pot and used to build up a picture across the borough and see if there are any patterns, or any solutions the borough hasn’t considered yet.

Personally, I’m hoping to push two things through this:

• Identifiying empty homes which can hopefully be used to alleviate the housing shortage in the borough.   I think there’s also opportunity to identify land or spaces which has the potential to be turned into homes.    Wandsworth Council claim to have had a fair amount of success with a scheme called hidden homes - but it’s also come in for criticism.   It’d be good to look at this in the Lewisham context and evaulate the potential (or desirabilty) of such a scheme.
• On the commercial property side, I think there’s a good opportunity to see what we can do in terms of economic development to fill empty units.   I’ve been concered to see more empty units cropping up in Lee Green of late (we’ve got four on Staplehurst Road now, and a couple of new ones on Lee High Road - not to mention Leegate).  

So if you’ve got any examples you think we should be looking at, do let me know.

While most people spent last night glued to Man U-Chelsea (or The Apprentice), some of us were at Lewisham Town Hall for Full Council…      One of the items up for discussion was the borough’s housing targets - in particular the split we aim for between affordable housing and what I refer to as ‘market rate’ (others might call it unaffordable)

There was pretty much unanimity between the parties* for a 50% target.  However, my concerns are about how it’s proposed to deliver 50%  - this is buried in the small print of Lewisham’s Local Area Agreement - the ‘contract’ between the partners in the borough and central government.

As recently as 30th April, the Mayor and his cabinet agreed a 35% target - based on delivering 975 homes a year in total, of which 341 would be affordable.   This was changed within the last 22 day to a total of 859 homes per year, of which 429 would be affordable.

So the 50 % target has been acheived - in part- by reducing the total number of homes to be delivered each year.   In effect, what’s proposed is increasing the number of affordable homes by 86 - to 44% of the 956 target - then lowering the overall target until that 44% becomes 50%.

Now, the housing market isn’t looking great, but I can’t believe that the demand for market rate homes has dropped by over 200 per year over the last month.   As the Housing Minister told the House of Commons Select Committee - we need more homes of all tenures - social rent, shared ownership and market rate.

To his credit, the Mayor agreed to look again at the figures - and I hope he’ll revise them before the Local Area Agreement is signed off with government.   A 50% target sounds good - but as with a lot of stuff, the devil’s in the detail.

*The Grove Park Tories aren’t in favour of any targets, but stressed this didn’t mean they were against affordable housing - something to do with Boris having decided for them - I actually think Boris decided it was up to them, but I’m not party to the inner workings of the Tory Party.  Thankfully.

The Lewisham Homes Lee Green Housing Office on Eltham Road has now closed.   As tenants in the ward will be aware, I campaigned against this closure when it was first proposed last summer.    Many residents said they didn’t receive the consultation document from Lewisham Homes, and many objected to having to travel to Catford to see their housing officer.   However, the Mayor and Cabinet approved the closure on November 14th.   It’s a real shame as it’s yet another empty unit in Leegate, and another local service lost.

Lewisham Homes originally planned to close the office at Christmas - but we were able to persuade them to keep it open until the end of the lease, which was good news.    I know residents at Leybridge and Newstead are now talking to Broomleigh about potential office arrangements after the stock transfer - and as residents will vote on these in the ballot, they’ll be keen to get things right.

To their credit, Lewisham Homes have arranged two surgery dates each week, where residents can see someone face-to-face.  These will take place on the ground floor of Merridale, Carston Close.  The surgery times are:

• Mondays from 2pm until 4pm
• Thursdays from 9.30am until 11.30am

Properties in Lee Green Ward are now managed from the Holbeach Housing Office in Catford (just round the corner from Argos).  You can call the office on 8314 7991 or email enquiries {at} lewishamhomes.org(.)uk    The office is open 9-5 every day except Wednesday, when the hours are 10-5.   

Repairs should always be reported on 8314 8314 or emailed to repairs {at} lewishamhomes.org(.)uk

Separately, all Lewisham Homes offices will be closed from 12 midday on Friday 18 April for all staff to attend their Annual Staff Conference. The out of hour emergency repairs service will continue to run during this time. The number is 8314 8314.

Lewisham Council is still landlord to properties managed by Lewisham Homes, so if you are having problems, you can still get in touch with your Councillors (as indeed you can if you’ve got problems with a housing association).   My contact details, as always, are here.

I headed up to St Mildred’s Church Hall this afternoon for the Open Day Broomleigh had organised to provide residents of the Newstead Road estate with more information about the propsed stock transfer.

There were plenty of residents there, and Broomleigh were providing useful information about the kitchens and bathrooms they can provide, the work of their BEST estate services teams and wardens.  There were also some freebies which seemed popular!

I’m on record as saying I think the stock transfer is a great opportunity for the Lee estates.  Broomleigh can put in so much more investment than the Council or Lewisham Homes could.   They’re also guaranteeing the key rights residents enjoy already, and working really hard with the local residents to make sure their offer addresses resident priorities.  After all, the residents who live there know their estates best.

A good afternoon, and I’m looking forward to the Leybridge version next week.

I got a call on Sunday from a resident who was very concerned that residents of the Merridale tower block on Carston Close had been evacuated from their homes due to a suspected structural fault.

I went up there to find out what was going on, but obviously on Sunday, the priority was to make sure everyone was accounted for and had somewhere safe to stay.

We’ve now received a briefing from the Chief Executive of Lewisham Homes.  He advises that:

• On Sunday 17th February the block  was evacuated in the late morning following an incident when several courses of brickwork suddenly bowed out from the main structure at 6th floor level on the south east wing. Residents reported hearing a loud noise shortly before.
• Emergency services and structural engineers attended. A scaffold fan was erected to protect the public and the section of road in front was closed with barriers. Residents were allowed back home in the late afternoon , although two families with young children were provided with temporary accommodation overnight.
• Today Lewisham Homes staff were on site together with a structural engineer. Residents were asking questions but there appears to be no major structual concern.
• Lewisham Homes have been advised by the structural engineer that the block is safe to occupy but closer examination of the area is required to determine the nature and extent of the problem and this is taking place on Wednesday.
• Scaffolders have erected a full height scaffold so that access to the affected area can be obtained and further examination will then take place.
• All the residents have been written to, and as many as possible have been spoken to face-to-face.   There are also additional staff at the Lee Green Housing Office to answer any questions residents have.

I know from conversations I’ve had with residents at Merridale that there’s still a great deal of concern about what’s happened.   Hopefully the inspection tomorrow will make things clearer - then we need to make sure residents are properly briefed on exactly what the problem is and what’s going to be done to resolve it.