Affordability

We will:

• endeavour to influence planning processes and use our voting power on the Development and Planning Applications Committee to: a) push for the Council’s affordable housing target to always be met or exceeded; b) seek to impose a levy when the target is missed; c) ensure that the creation of new social housing is prioritised, as there are at least 10,500 households stuck on Merton’s Housing Register
• pursue, with urgency, mechanisms to bring empty homes back into use, especially to provide more social housing

 

Accessibility

There is a dearth of homes which are suitable for people who use mobility aids and people who need certain aids and adaptations to live safely. The London Plan requires 90% of all new homes to be M4(2) ‘accessible and adaptable dwellings’, and 10% of all new homes to be M4(3) ‘wheelchair user dwellings’ – the latter of which consists of M4(3)2a dwellings that require adaptations to bathrooms and kitchens in order to be fully wheelchair accessible, and M4(3)2b dwellings into which wheelchair users can move immediately. However, there is evidence that developers are getting away with not meeting these targets, and more likely to build M4(3)2a dwellings instead of M4(3)2b dwellings because it costs them less money. We will:

• endeavour to influence planning processes and use our voting power on the Development and Planning Applications Committee to push for the targets to always be met or exceeded
• seek to impose a levy when targets are missed
• explore how to deploy Disabled Facilities Grant funding more effectively, as there is clear evidence of underspend

 

Housing Associations

Too many Housing Association tenants and leaseholders are paying increasing rental and/or service charges for badly maintained homes and grounds. Leaseholders are also subject to unreasonable Major Works bills. And communication with tenants and leaseholders is often poor.

We will support tenants and leaseholders to demand better.

 

Private Rentals

We will:

• build on existing efforts to take on rogue landlords by investing in enforcement and stronger landlord licensing
• campaign for rent controls, secure tenancies, and repair rights

 

New Developments

• The sanctity of Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) must be respected.
• Metropolitan Open Land should be recognised as a vital urban resource and protected from any non-essential building work.
• Floodplains play a key role in protecting our urban environment from the consequences of extreme weather conditions, and should not be built upon in any way that diminishes their function.
• Where refurbishment is an environmentally sound option, demolition should be the last resort.
• Construction should be sustainable, with developers required to show, through relevant environmental analyses like the Life Cycle Assessment, how their design is more efficient than other options.
• Homes and community infrastructure should run on renewable energy.
• Community-led forms of home and land ownership and management should be supported and prioritised in housing strategies where they improve access to affordable, long-term and secure homes. For example, where public land is used for the provision of housing, it should either remain in public ownership or be transferred to a Community Land Trust to preserve it as a community-owned asset.
• We support high-density housing development where there is indisputable need, but will oppose proposals which fail to demonstrate substantial advantages to occupants, the wider community, and the environment.
• Building height is a nuanced matter, and our position is to advocate for the more efficient use of existing space. The latter could mean going up instead of going out. However, high-rise buildings are disproportionately polluting in comparison with their more modest peers, and clearly alter dramatically the character of a place. We would prioritise the environmental credentials of any building plans, and take care to ensure that the proposals complement the existing environs.
• Developments should be aesthetically pleasing and provide community infrastructure to complement their primary purpose e.g. recreation and play areas, exercise equipment, educational facilities, community gardens and orchards, allotments, community kitchens, function rooms, etc.
• We will insist on meaningful public consultation, with the views of those affected brought into much sharper focus than is the case currently. For example, regeneration projects are always controversial, and we believe that the community in question should be at the heart of decision making e.g. balloted, offered the opportunity to help to design and build the new space, etc.
• We are following the progress of the controversial Clarion regeneration schemes in Ravensbury, High Path and Eastfields, and are committed to ensuring that the new homes, grounds and facilities are of a high quality, and that the promises of ‘like for like’ are fulfilled.

 

Retrofitting

This is and will remain a tremendous challenge until the level of public funding is adequate to the task. That said, it is not simply a funding gap holding back progress on this front; there is still a great deal of ignorance and uncertainty surrounding this topic, not only amongst homeowners and landlords (including Housing Associations), but also within the trades. A holistic approach to this challenge would be to identify and address each bottleneck in its own right – from increasing access to the professional training required to ensure that we have sufficient technical skills within the borough to deliver the scale of retrofitting required, to promoting understanding amongst homeowners and landlords about the what/when/why/how/who of retrofitting provision. To an extent, the latter is a matter of accessibility: people need tangible examples of what retrofitting can look like. They need to understand what it would mean for them, such as the benefits that it offers, how to start the process, and which contractors they can trust. These are all matters where the Council is well-positioned to help. Hence, we would work hard to raise the Council’s game in this regard.