Provision of affordable housing? Maybe not…
The initial proposal and the mention of affordable housing as part of the project is designed assist Hadley to gain local support, but it’s possible that no more a token number of homes will ever be delivered.
The Hadley/Clarion scheme has provision for approximately 70 ‘affordable’ homes – however, the definition of affordable remains vague, and usually means 80% of market value, which most people in Penge could not afford.
Also, developers routinely renege on their promises to provide social housing – as an example, the Battersea Power Station site was originally sold to developers on the basis that 50% of the homes would be affordable, social housing. To date, not a single social or affordable home has been provided on the site.
In effect, there may not be many affordable or social homes provided, in the end. The scale of the scheme may well be cut back, and as a result, the provision of social housing could be drastically reduced, although, as the plans have not been submitted, this remains to be seen.
It is even possible that the majority of apartments will be sold off-plan to foreign speculative investors, which means that very few of the homes will be available to local people, even at full market rate. This has happened with many similar development schemes in London before.