Tens of millions of pounds more committed to housing estate improvements

At their housing committee meeting last week, councillors approved plans to spend an extra £90m on improvements to the borough’s estates between now and April 2025.

This £90m has been added to the £535m already committed to housing estate improvements and the town hall’s house building and purchase programme over the current four-year financial cycle.

Between now and April 2025 the following amounts have been budgeted:

• Major refurbishment schemes - £127m
• Modernising lifts - £15m
• Rewiring of homes - £9m
• Heating repairs and upgrades - £16m
• Purchasing of properties - £26m
• Estate regeneration schemes - £237m
• House purchase grants - £13.6m
• Disability adaptations – £4.6m
• Shetltered housing improvements - £4.5m

Estates where major refurbishments are to be carried out include the Alton estate in Roehampton, Ashburton in Putney, Arndale in Wandsworth High Street, Augustus Road in West Hill, Battersea High Street estate, Bevill Allen Close in Tooting, Carey Gardens in Battersea, Ethelburga in Battersea, Elsenham Street in Southfields; Henry Prince in Earlsfield, Latchmere estate in Battersea, Lennoix estate in Roehampton, Queensmere Estate in Southfields and Patmore estate in Nine Elms.

In total 58 estate major refurbishment schemes have now received funding. More than £33m of this budget will be used to install new kitchens and bathrooms at homes on 18 estates.

News of this significant spending on improving homes for estate residents comes in the wake of a council announcement earlier this week that rents were being frozen for 17,000 tenants while heating and hot water bills were also being frozen for residents in more than 3,000 homes with communal boiler systems.

The total level of housing investment in future years is also likely to increase as additional projects are added to the capital programme in forthcoming budgets.

Wandsworth's cabinet member for housing Cllr Jonathan Cook said: “We have unveiled a huge programme of improvements to the borough’s council estates. This investment will make a big difference to the daily lives of many thousands of people.

“People living on our estates will benefit from major upgrades to lighting, heating and security around their homes. Many blocks will also get brand new roofs, windows and lifts and there will be new boilers plus kitchens and bathrooms fitted in a large number of properties.

“And at the same time as these improvements are being rolled out, we are also freezing rents for our 17,000 tenants and freezing heating and hot water bills for people living in more than 3,000 homes.

“We will also continue with our ambitious plans for major regeneration and new build schemes in the borough, regenerating local estates to provide better quality homes and neighbourhoods and also on building new affordable homes for rent and shared ownership.

“The council has a long and sustained record of investing heavily in local housing estates to ensure that our residents live in good quality accommodation. These plans for the next four years show that picture continuing.”