09 Nov Major £37.7m investment for Lewisham council house building programme

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has awarded Lewisham Council £37.7 million to build 384 new council homes in the borough.

Lewisham Council already has an impressive house-building record. The borough has met or exceeded the London Plan housing targets for the last 15 years. In 2016/17, 1,385 homes were delivered, exceeding the target by 29 per cent.

However, the borough continues to face a housing shortage. The population is growing and the lack of affordable houses means many families are being denied a safe and secure home.

The borough’s council house building will be boosted further with the removal of a cap on how much local authorities can borrow for new developments.

There are ambitious plans to build 15,000 homes by 2023 and this will be bolstered by the Government’s decision to scrap the cap on how much local authorities can borrow against their Housing Revenue Account assets to invest in new developments.

Announcing the decision, Prime Minister, Theresa May, said: “Solving the housing crisis is the biggest domestic policy challenge of our generation. It doesn’t make sense to stop councils from playing their part in solving it.”