HOUSING
Homes
fit for the
future
Ealing is building more
council homes than any
other London authority.
In total, the council aims
to provide 2,500 new,
genuinely affordable
homes by 2022. Quinton
Drawbridge reports.
T
he single biggest challenge
the borough faces is a chronic
shortage of housing local
people can afford. Average
house prices are around 10 times the
average salary, while renting privately is
increasingly unaffordable for many. Of
the 2,500 planned new homes, 1,138
will be directly built by the council,
with the rest delivered in partnership
with private developers. They will be
18
around ealing December 2018
partly paid for by a £100million grant
that the council recently won from the
Mayor of London.
The homes will be built at sites all
over the borough, including on estates
already earmarked for regeneration.
From Northolt to Acton, ageing
buildings on nine estates are being
replaced with modern, high quality
homes. The council is taking care to
provide opportunities for residents to
have their say through ballots.
Here we take a closer look at four of
these estate projects.
COPLEY HANWELL W7
Copley Hanwell W7 is the council’s
flagship development, regenerating
the Copley Close estate into a modern,
safe neighbourhood.
Instead of partnering with a company,
the council itself is both developer and
landlord at Copley – and it is one of the
first local authorities in the country to work
Acton Gardens
in this innovative way. It ensures more of
the homes will be genuinely affordable.
The homes are of such a high standard
that the development has taken honours
at the London Planning Awards, the First
Time Buyer Awards and the Evening
Standard New Homes Awards.
“We love being at home now,” said
Susan Packwood, who lives with her