Darren Johnson, Green Party Assembly Member, suggests building new homes on top of low-rise council blocks and “working together with residents and communities” to create 70,000 new homes in the next decade to meet housing needs.
Building new homes on top of existing low-rise council blocks is one of five ideas to close London’s house building gap, put forward in a new report by Darren Johnson AM. The Mayor of London needs to find space for an extra 70,000 homes over the next decade to meet housing needs [1], so Darren’s report sets out scope to build these new homes:
– On top of existing low rise blocks, starting with council-owned properties;
– by providing less car parking in outer London, averaging the level provided in Sutton
– seeking out and making better use of small sites with innovative SMEs
– letting tenants and residents take control of the regeneration of their estates
– establishing a People’s Land Commission to draw these ideas together
Darren Johnson at a rally to save houses near Blackfriars Road criticising the amount of luxury flats built in London.
Darren commented, “The Mayor of London has tried to build more homes by working together with big developers to push through expensive flats that are sold to investors. This is just making more and more people oppose new homes. The Mayor work will get more support and more homes built if he works together with residents and communities to find clever ways to fit new homes into existing neighbourhoods.
“There are great examples in London of building on top of low rise blocks, replacing car parking spaces with homes, putting well designed homes on small sites, and letting tenants develop the best plans for refurbishing and building on their estates. The Mayor could turn his top-down land commission into a People’s Land Commission.”