Lambeth: hundreds of new flats near Loughborough Junction station will completely transform area

A Lambeth Council planning committee approved 320 shared living units in a 13-storey building, as well as a two-storey industrial building on a site close to Loughborough Junction station, located between Brixton and Camberwell, on Tuesday evening (November 19).

Co-living is a type of housing where residents have a small private room, but share communal amenities like kitchens and lounges with neighbours in a single building. The block planned for a sliver of land bordered by Wellfit Street, Hinton Road and Hardess Street will also include shared working space, a TV area and gym, as well as a roof terrace.

Rents for the 320 studios are yet to be set but are anticipated to be between £1,300 and £1,500 per month inclusive of bills and all facilities, according to council planning documents. The area, currently an industrial use, will be transformed after building work is complete, with artist’s impressions showing what the site will look like.

Locals who spoke in opposition to the scheme at the meeting said they were unimpressed at the absence of affordable housing. One resident, who gave his name only as Andrew and said he had lived in the area for 30 years, told the meeting: “My wife and I love our neighbourhood, but if we were starting out now we couldn’t afford it.

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“Affordable family housing is what Loughborough Junction needs most and this scheme will provide none. As far as I can see it will provide expensive student [housing] except not for students.”

Matthew Clarke, another resident, said the £9.2 million that applicant LGL was offering for affordable housing to be built elsewhere was unacceptable. He said: “The payment, after viability assessments, has been set at £9.2 million. For a development of this size… an equivalent payment in lieu [of affordable housing] should be £24 million. £9.2 million is a measly 13.4 per cent affordable housing on the site.”

The area’s local councillors, Jim Dixon, Pauline George and Deepak Sardiwal, also spoke against the plans – voicing concerns about the lack of affordable housing, the height of the planned building and the transience of potential tenants.

But Harry Keane from applicant LGL said residents usually stayed at least around a year in co-living buildings and said London had a need for this type of accommodation — noting that the number of studios and one bed flats in the capital had halved since 2019.

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He added: “Co-living provides solutions to these issues, whilst also playing a key role in addressing the UK’s chronic housing shortage and catering for a diverse demographic of renters.”

Cllr Joanna Simpson, Chair of the planning committee, said she was satisfied the plans met a need for housing and complied with planning policies, adding that she was impressed with the replacement industrial unit. Councillors Joanne Simpson, Malcolm Clarke, Martin Bailey and Diego Costa, all from Labour, voted in favour of the application. Cllr Emma Nye, Labour member for Knight’s Hill, voted to refuse it.