Southwark building one third of all council homes in England

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

One of England’s most crowded boroughs is building one in three of the country’s new council homes, new stats show.

Work started on 726 council homes in Southwark last year, according to government figures despite the borough already having crammed in a lot of housing, and the council being the biggest local authority landlord in London.

Across all of England, construction began on 2,234 new council houses in the same period. It means a third of all council homes started last year are in Southwark, which is the seventh most densely populated area in England.

Southwark council hopes the new properties will help house some of the 17,200 people currently waiting for a council house in the borough.

Jordan McLaughlin, 24, moved into one of 10 newly built council homes on Welsford Street in Bermondsey last year.

Mr McLaughlin, his mother and sister had previously been sharing a cramped two-bedroom council flat around the corner and needed somewhere bigger.

He said: “We’re just really happy as a family that these new builds came to fruition. It makes life a lot more comfortable. We needed the space. This place has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. It’s perfect for us.

“It has made our family life easier; we aren’t on top of each other. We aren’t arguing about space. We have separate bathrooms to get ready and there’s enough space in the kitchen so that we can do what we need to do.”

He added: “Every single part of this house is an improvement. The only thing we don’t have which we did at the old place is parking. I’m having to use visitor permits at the moment.”

Southwark council claims it has the most ambitious council house building programme of anywhere in Britain, according to its website.

Labour, which controls the council, promised to build 11,000 new council homes by 2043 in the run-up to the 2014 local elections.

But a council report from February cast doubt on whether this would be possible.

The document said the council didn’t have enough money to build 11,000 homes by 2043 and blamed the apparent sidestepping of the pledge on surging construction costs and the rising cost of borrowing. The 11,000 pledge remains on the council’s website.

Building more council homes also doesn’t mean the number of council properties in Southwark is increasing.

Government figures show there were 1,346 fewer council homes in the borough as of 2022 than in 2014 when the 11,000 pledge was made.

Right to buy, a government policy that allows council tenants to purchase their property, as well as council homes being knocked down as part of estate regeneration programmes in the borough has resulted in a net loss of homes.

Councillor Kieron Williams, leader of Southwark council, said: “We’ve made building genuinely affordable homes our first priority in Southwark, with over three thousand new council homes built or under construction across our borough, more than any other council.

“We’re investing in these new council homes because we know they’ll transform lives for generations to come with their low rents and lifetime tenancies standing in stark contrast to London’s broken and unaffordable private rented sector.”

Pictured top: New council homes in Welsford Street in Bermondsey finished in 2021 (Picture: Robert Firth)