020 7538 0102
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has refused plans for a 771-home scheme in Greenwich that would provide 40% affordable housing after concluding that the proposal fails "to take the opportunity to promote a high quality of design". Developer Rockwell had planned to build 11 blocks of flats, up to 10 storeys tall, at the Charlton Riverside scheme near Hope and Anchor Lane. The planning inspector acknowledged the differing character of the area to neighbouring sites at Greenwich peninsula, where a plethora of high-rise applications have been waved through and subsequently developed within eyesight. And while he accepted riverside areas of the Charlton Riverside Opportunity Area may accept taller buildings, promoting high-rise development across the area would compromise planning aims for the area.
Planning Resource (04/06/2020) The News Shopper (04/06/2020)
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has refused plans for a 771-home scheme in Greenwich that would provide 40% affordable housing after concluding that the proposal fails "to take the opportunity to promote a high quality of design". Developer Rockwell had planned to build 11 blocks of flats, up to 10 storeys tall, at the Charlton Riverside scheme near Hope and Anchor Lane. The planning inspector acknowledged the differing character of the area to neighbouring sites at Greenwich peninsula, where a plethora of high-rise applications have been waved through and subsequently developed within eyesight. And while he accepted riverside areas of the Charlton Riverside Opportunity Area may accept taller buildings, promoting high-rise development across the area would compromise planning aims for the area.
Planning Resource (04/06/2020) The News Shopper (04/06/2020
House prices fell 1.7% in May from the previous month to an average of £218,902, the largest monthly fall for 11 years, according to Nationwide. The annual growth rate slowed to 1.8%, down from 3.7% in April and the slowest since December. Recent Nationwide research indicated that one in eight people had put off moving because of the lockdown. The drop in Nationwide's house price index in May "is just the start of a protracted decline over the remainder of this year," said Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. Nationwide said potential buyers were now planning to wait six months on average before looking to enter the market, and 12% of the population had put off moving because of the lockdown.
The Times (02/06/2020) Daily Mail (02/06/2020) The Guardian (02/06/2020) City AM (02/06/2020)
The number of mortgage approvals fell to a record low in April, Bank of England figures show. Some 15,848 mortgage approvals for house purchase were recorded - 80% below February levels before coronavirus lockdown measures were imposed, around half the number of approvals during the 2008 financial crisis, and the lowest since figures started in 1993. Approvals for re-mortgaging also fell in April, the Bank said, to 34,400 – 34% lower than in February. The BoE report said: "Weakness in the housing market associated with COVID-19 was reflected in weak mortgage market activity in April."
City AM (02/06/2020) Evening Standard (02/06/2020) Daily Mail (02/06/2020)
Homeowners who take advantage of the extended mortgage holiday scheme should have their credit files marked, the Nationwide has said. Lenders look at somebody's credit rating when deciding whether to agree to a fresh loan or contract and the interest rate they will charge. Joe Garner, chief executive of the Nationwide Building Society, said an extension to the mortgage break may signal a borrower was "struggling". He commented as the UK's largest mutual announced a plunge in profits. Its statutory pre-tax profit fell to £466m in the year to April, compared with £833m the previous year. The building society said it had already faced pressure on its profits before it took a £101m hit as a direct result of coronavirus.
BBC News (29/05/2020) The Daily Telegraph (29/05/2020)
The government has agreed to quash planning permission for Northern & Shell’s 1,524-home Westferry Printworks scheme from Northern & Shell. Tower Hamlets, the planning authority for the scheme, launched a legal case against the government on the basis that the date of the decision allowed the developer to avoid between £30m and £50m in additional planning obligations which would have applied if it had been approved the following day. The charges would have applied as Tower Hamlets was due to bring in a new Community Infrastructure Levy charging schedule. The government has now allowed the decision to be quashed following a request by Tower Hamlets as part of the legal proceedings that it disclose correspondence between the government and the developer over the decision.
Building (27/05/2020)