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Tower Hamlets council sitting on £21 million in unspent affordable housing funding

A Freedom of Information inquiry found that the council had the fourth-highest unused funding amounts from housing development projects.

Six London councils are sitting on a combined cash pot of nearly £160 million in unspent affordable housing contributions, according to recent research. The City of London Corporation alone has almost £70 million in cash for affordable housing secured via developer payments putting it at the top of the list in England and Wales.

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) analysis suggests London councils make up six of the 10 local authorities with the largest sums, at a combined total of £157.8m. The list includes:

  • Hammersmith and Fulham in third with £29m
  • Tower Hamlets in fourth with £21m
  • Kensington and Chelsea in sixth with £15.8m
  • Newham in seventh with £12.3m
  • Greenwich in ninth with £10.9m

The HBF’s report investigated how much local authorities in England and Wales are yet to spend from Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments. Both of these are derived from developers, with Section 106 agreements negotiated to mitigate the impacts of particular schemes and CIL a charge used to fund local infrastructure projects.

According to HBF’s data, which was compiled via a large-scale Freedom of Information (FOI) exercise, councils in England and Wales are sitting on more than £8 billion of payments from developers including over £6bn from Section 106 and £2bn from CIL.

A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson said: ‘Funds are allocated to various schemes as and when they become available. These allocated funds are spent at different phases of a housing development project.

‘Given that the development process usually extends over a considerable duration, it is common for funds to remain unspent at any given moment, although they are not unallocated.’

A spokesperson for the HBF said: ‘Home builders know only too well about the difficulties of sourcing land and delivering housing in London, but it is important that communities in which new housing is provided see the financial, community and social benefits that new homes bring with them.

With London boroughs sitting on considerable sums paid by builders to support community infrastructure and new affordable housing, residents – and taxpayers – are not seeing the benefits. As the housing crisis in London worsens and the cost of providing temporary accommodation spirals, it must be a priority for councils to deliver on these commitments.’

London Council estimates more than 183,000 people in the capital are homeless and living in temporary accommodation. The umbrella group’s analysis found borough councils collectively spend an average of £114m a month on temporary accommodation, with a 662 per cent increase in families placed in B&Bs.

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