Holly Lodge flats could go as Labour ‘break promises’ on Council sell-offs

Published: 29 July, 2010
by RICHARD OSLEY

THE Labour Party has been accused of tearing up its promises after revealing proposals that could lead to flats on one of Camden’s most coveted estates being sold.

Housing chief Councillor Julian Fulbrook said he wanted the council to keep every home on the Holly Lodge Estate in Highgate – but added: “This government is unlikely to help us and I don’t have a pot of gold to do everything we would like.”

A repairs programme on the estate has stalled due to costs and Cllr Fulbrook is keen to return empty bedsits to use.

He said: “A Labour administration will certainly never sell off Holly Lodge as a job lot at auction for a private developer to flip these properties, so the revised scheme would seem to be along the lines of a council-run redevelopment scheme where selling some of the properties enables us to fund better homes for our tenants as part of a mixed tenure community. 

“We are also looking at the possibility of market renting out properties on this estate”.

The proposals are only at a discussion stage but the hint that flats could be rented out privately or taken out of the council’s portfolio altogether has jarred with Labour’s election pledges.

One of the main planks of the party’s campaign in the borough hinged on council housing – and in May it suspended a policy of selling off council homes within days of returning to power in Camden.

Those sales had been approved by the Lib Dems and Conservatives on the grounds that the income would be used to fix up other homes.

But the strategy was bogged down by opposition from tenants concerned about Camden’s shrinking housing stock, the quality of the work being funded through the sales and revelations that developers who bought the home were “flipping” – making a fast profit by quickly selling on homes.

Lib Dem councillor Chris Naylor said: “It seems Labour will now be selling off or renting out homes on the open market – so they have got to be searching their consciences about going back on their manifesto commitment not to sell a single council home.

“There are 100 empty bedsits on Holly Lodge and we found a way forward. We would get more council homes but by selling a few off. 

“Now Labour realise that is the only way to save the estate and are backtracking.”

The Holly Lodge debate is a small part of Cllr Fulbrook’s plan to bridge a funding gap needed to ensure every council flat in Camden is up to scratch.

He said the flats at Holly Lodge would probably be offered to “key workers” such as nurses and teachers – but he was adamant other council homes would not be sold in this way.

“Reckless” is the word he is using for the past administration’s policy.

Other tactics planned by Cllr Fulbrook and his colleagues include scrutinising agreements with contractors to see if Camden is paying too much for repair work. 

“The aim is to try to make our money go much further by cutting waste and inefficiency, particularly by the ‘back office’ layers of bureaucracy but at the same time improving tenant satisfaction,” he said.

Cllr Fulbrook has not ruled out working with housing associations to generate new low-cost homes and has ordered a crackdown on illegal sub-letting in the hope of freeing up flats. But it is the move to potentially raise funds through sales at Holly Lodge that has alerted his opponents.

Conservative leader Cllr Andrew Mennear said: “This is exactly the policy that we had – and that Labour criticised in opposition. 

“It is a remarkable volte-face but I’m glad that Julian Fulbrook has seen sense. He often does before some of his Labour colleagues. 

“We were always of the view that the council had to sell of a small number of flats to pay for the repairs to other council accommodation because the scandal in Camden is that the condition of our housing is so poor.”