Mayor steps in to double affordable housing in Mill Hill scheme

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has approved a major new residential development in Mill Hill after intervening to double the level of affordable homes and to include homes at social rent levels within the development, underlining his tough approach to accelerating the delivery of new and genuinely affordable housing in London (October 6th).When the Mayor first saw the plans in December last year, they included just 20 per cent affordable housing – 92 homes, all of which were for shared ownership. Earlier this year the Mayor ‘called in’ the planning application and has now secured twice as much (40 per cent) affordable housing on the site – 185 homes, including 131 for shared ownership and 54 at social rent levels.Sadiq Khan also ensured 119 trees which would have been felled across the site will now be retained and an additional 91 new trees will be planted. The development will also see a number of sports pitches previously in private hands transferred to the local council for community use.