Mayor sings praises of Nightingale plans as final stage of regeneration gets green light

A CGI image showing what the homes on the currently vacant plot of land will look like. Image: Karakusevic Carson Architects

Regeneration chiefs will be singing merrily after the final stage of their masterplan for the Nightingale Estate was unanimously approved last night.

In total 400 new homes will be built on a two-hectare site, with construction work set for completion by 2020.

Only 31 per cent of these housing units will be classed as affordable, with the rest for market-rate sale, the revenue from which will in turn be used to fund the building work as a whole.

This model, which capitalises on the sky-high cost of London property, has been replicated throughout the city in areas where ageing homes are seen as uneconomical to repair.

The work will take place against the background of a population boom in Hackney and London’s housing crisis.

The Town Hall’s estates regeneration programme will overall deliver nearly 3,000 new homes – at least half of which will be for affordable social renting and shared ownership – across 18 estates in Hackney.

New playgrounds, trees, lighting, shops and cafe space are also set to be provided on the Nightingale, as is a community centre.

The changes appear to have been broadly welcomed by residents, but last year the Hackney Citizen heard from some who have concerns about the inevitable disruption and noise that living next to a building site will entail.

Already there have been several successive stages of the regeneration of the Clapton estate, once a notorious crime hotspot. This latest stage will be the final one.

In total, the regeneration will have delivered more than 750 new properties once the programme is complete.

Patricia Semain, who has lived on the estate since 1971, told the Hackney Citizen last year: “For those of us who have been here from the beginning of the regeneration, we’ve been living on a building site practically ever since.”

Other concerns include the potential impact of heavy through traffic from the opening of new roads and “overlooking and a loss of privacy” and housing “densification”.

Written letters of objection numbered 22, and a petition containing just 54 signatures was submitted to the Town Hall.

Seven letters of support were received, along with two comments “neither supporting nor objecting to the proposals”, the planning committee, chaired by Cllr Katie Hanson, heard.

Mayor Philip Glanville said: “This fantastic development, with its high-quality design, is the result of years of close work with local residents, and will bring hundreds of desperately needed new homes for Hackney.

“I’m proud that we are building thousands of new homes ourselves through our Estate Regeneration Programme – with more than half for social rent or shared ownership.

“Last night’s decision means we can now get to work on delivering more homes for residents struggling to find an affordable place to rent or buy.”

Hackney will also be the first borough to see 500 new homes built at Sadiq Khan’s London Living Rent, with rents based on a third of average local earnings to help low and middle-income households facing rent hikes in the private sector.

This article was amended at 2.22pm on Thursday 12 January. It originally stated that Cllr Vincent Stops chaired the meeting, whereas in fact it was Cllr Katie Hanson as Cllr Stops was away.