{"id":91273,"date":"2025-05-10T23:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T23:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/91273\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T23:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T23:33:13","slug":"dead-end-street-developer-wants-to-pull-out-of-affordable-housing-pledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/91273\/","title":{"rendered":"Dead End Street? Developer wants to pull out of affordable housing pledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labour ward councillor James Slater has been left fuming that an application has gone in to switch the units to a private sale<\/strong><\/p>\n

A DEVELOPER which left a block of affordable flats half-finished and vacant for seven years now wants to sell the homes off at full market rate.<\/p>\n

Four Quarters scored planning consent and built a 20-flat scheme in Wiblin Mews, Kentish Town in 2017 \u00ad\u2013 with a pledge to provide eight cheaper homes.<\/p>\n

But after finishing the private flats \u00ad\u00ad\u2013 sold for over a million each \u00ad\u2013 work has stopped before all of the affordable housing has been completed and the company says it is no longer \u201cfinancially viable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The project had already caused controversy in the neighbourhood after residents tried to stop construction lorries using a route across the cobbles of Little Green Street.<\/p>\n

The historic mews was the setting for the video to The Kinks\u2019 song Dead End Street and the band\u2019s guitarist Dave Davies was among those who called for its protection.<\/p>\n

In a report submitted to the council, an agent for the developer said: \u201cCovid inevitably has led to material shortages and delays in construction. Build costs have risen by approximately 25 per cent over the last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, inflation has had a huge impact on the cost of borrowing. Inflation and uncertainty is also having a serious impact.\u201d
\"\"<\/p>\n

Residents of Little Green Street and College Lane Jeff Brush, Alan MArsh, Maria Ingol and Sarah Osgerby<\/strong><\/p>\n

The company wants to sell the remaining flats at market rate, and pay the council \u00a3868,000 to make up for not creating the agreed affordable housing.<\/p>\n

Labour ward councillor James Slater said the payment was \u201ca slap in the face for our area\u201d, adding: \u201cIt is deeply disappointing that, after so many years of inaction, the developer now seeks to amend this fundamental aspect of the scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe affordable housing has been there for years, untouched and with none of the work being done. It\u2019s quite a cynical attempt to try and wriggle out of that when the block is almost done.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that there have been problems across the development, including water ingress which has led to a \u201cgiant pool of water at the bottom\u201d of the afford\u00adable housing block.<\/p>\n

The flats were also segregated with a gate from the private flats.<\/p>\n

Cllr Slater said: \u201cIt\u2019s in the middle of Kentish Town. It\u2019s in a fairly affluent area on one side, and then you have a council estate on the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a huge waiting list for social housing. There are families that are in overcrowding, and these properties are in the shadow of council housing where people can look onto it and they\u2019ve just seen the shell of affordable housing for seven or eight years, left there completely empty. I think it is completely morally bankrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Thomas, an architect who lives in Little Green Street, said if the application to change the scheme is approved it would set a dangerous precedent for future developments.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThis is a really shocking submission. These people have left much-needed affordable housing unfinished since the rest of the properties were sold, and inhabited.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this goes through, it makes a mockery of planning and local engagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI object so com\u00adplete\u00adly I am at a loss for further words to describe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dave Davies revisiting Little Green Street, the scene of his band\u2019s shoot for Dead End Street<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fears that Little Green Street would be too small for large lorries to transport building materials to the former social club site turned out to be warranted, according to residents, who now fear more cracks will appear with a further refurbishment.<\/p>\n

Alan Marsh, who lives nearby, said: \u201cIt is one of the few rows of Georgian houses in London and if they do rebuild then the construction lorries are back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still worry about the intersection of College Lane and Little Green Street which is the motor access into their underground car park; it\u2019s quite difficult for drivers to see pedestrians.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no contact information online for Four Quarters.<\/p>\n

The New Journal requested a comment from the developer on the email address residents use to contact them, but received no reply, and also spoke to someone who worked there and tried to call the director at one their other develop\u00adments, but all attempts to make contact failed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labour ward councillor James Slater has been left fuming that an application has gone in to switch the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,43190,4884,6333,43189,257,18394,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-91273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-frankie-lister-fell","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-housing","13":"tag-kentish-town","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-the-camden-new-journal","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114486156170045897","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}