Lewisham Council Transfers Public Land to Community Housing Groups
Lewisham Council is transferring public land worth up to £2 million to community-led organizations to build social housing and bypass private developers.
The Lewisham London Borough Council is implementing a new housing strategy to transfer public land worth up to £2 million per package to community-led organizations, including housing co-operatives. The Green-controlled council intends to bypass reliance on for-profit developers by utilizing a legal loophole in a 1972 law, which permits local authorities to sell or gift sites under £2 million if the move provides positive local benefits.
To ensure permanent affordability, the council will place land into community land trusts and provide low-interest loans. The strategy also includes pre-approving planning permissions to accelerate the construction process. The plan specifically targets small sites under 2,500 square metres, which are frequently ignored by major developers but could collectively support thousands of new homes.
Cabinet member Daniel Dream stated that the current system of negotiating with private developers is broken. He argued that the council must be more creative to meet housing needs, noting that there is a limit to how much social housing private property developers can realistically be expected to build.
