黑洞社区

The Peabody housing association has agreed to buy the site of Holloway Prison in north London where it plans to build more than 600 social rented and affordable homes.

The purchase, believed to have cost 拢82m, was supported by a 拢41.6m loan from the mayor of London鈥檚 拢750m Land Fund. The deal took place nearly two years after the Ministry of Justice invited bids for the 10-acre plot.

To get the loan, which has to be repaid in full, Peabody has had to assure the mayor that 60% of the 1,000 homes to be built on the site will be 鈥済enuinely affordable鈥�. 

Of the affordable homes, 70% will be for social rent.

黑洞社区 will start by 2022 and expected to be finished by 2026, the mayor鈥檚 office said, with work being carried out by developer London Square.

Khan said: 鈥淥ur ground-breaking loan to Peabody means the majority of new homes on this site will be genuinely affordable 鈥� with around four in 10 of all new homes being for social rent.

鈥漌e鈥檝e developed planning policies with the council that support this, and that also set out how the development should include public green space and a new centre for women.

鈥淭his shows what is possible on public land. We鈥檝e been able to do this even with the limited powers we currently have. Ministers now need to play their part and give us the step-change in investment and powers over land we need to truly fix London鈥檚 housing crisis.鈥�

Last year Islington Council said it would only back plans to develop the site of the former women鈥檚 prison, which closed in 2016, if it included a women鈥檚 hostel.

And Khan said in November 2017 he would only lend his support to the scheme is half of the homes being built were genuinely affordable.

Khan was concerned about the government鈥檚 disposal process, with the site being offered to buyers with no restrictions or constraints, saying this increased the risk that the site could be landbanked and left undeveloped.

Speaking about the deal Brendan Sarsfield, Peabody鈥檚 chief executive, said: 鈥淲e are committed to working with Islington and the GLA to deliver an exceptional new housing scheme on this historic site.

鈥淲e are pleased to confirm we will deliver a 60% level of genuinely-affordable homes, integrating existing Islington communities with a new Peabody estate.

鈥淎s well as providing new homes we will also ensure social infrastructure and placemaking are at the heart of our proposals.鈥�