Delancey make formal offer of more social housing and space for box park and bingo at Elephant & Castle development

Developers hoping to make up to £153.75million from a development of nearly 1,000 new homes has offered to hand more of them for cheap rent.
Regeneration company Delancey’s £1billion plans for Elephant & Castle were rejected by Southwark’s planning committee by four votes to three on January 16 because there was not enough social housing.
But the company has now made a new offer to town hall chiefs to allow them to place tenants in some of the flats at low cost.
A spokeswoman for the company said: “Delancey has listened to the concerns and issues raised by the local community, ward councillors and Southwark council on our initial planning application for the redevelopment of the Elephant & Castle Town Centre.
“We have worked hard to find agreeable resolutions to these concerns, for which we have submitted a revised offer to Southwark today. A consultation process will be started to present and discuss these specific proposals and how they respond to the issues raised.
“The revised offer includes:
* 74 social rent housing units within Blocks W1 & W2 of the Oswin Street mansion properties
* a commitment to convert a further 42 housing units from London Living Rent to Social Rent within Block W3 of Oswin Street mansion properties, pending resolution of grant funding and/or final viability review
* all social rented housing will be owned and managed by either Southwark council or another registered provider
* creation of an Elephant Box Park on Castle Square to further supplement the independent trader relocation strategy for the shopping centre. A full-time multi-lingual community engagement officer to be employed and located in the shopping centre to actively assist this relocation process
* revision of Pastor Street to create a vibrant affordable, mixed commercial environment and creation of a Pastor Street Advisory Group to develop the vision
* Palatial Leisure [who run Palace Bingo in the existing shopping centre] to lead the relocation of existing bingo within the locality by March 2019, and leisure space on the Western site to be offered in priority to a commercial bingo operation.
There will now be a 21-day re-consultation on these proposals.
The statement added it would involve “a continuation of our work with Cathedrals and East Walworth ward councillors, Southwark council and other interested local parties, to discuss the issues and concerns raised regarding the previously submitted proposal, and to carry out detailed discussions around the new updated offer.
“We look forward to continuing to work with all the relevant parties to reach a mutually acceptable and positive result for all, and a conclusion which delivers the new town centre and essential improvements to the transport, education and housing provision for the community in and around Elephant & Castle.”