Council helps create new homes and jobs while preserving suburban areas

The borough’s current housing target is 427 new homes a year. In 2019-20, Sutton delivered 559 net additional homes making a significant contribution towards meeting the local community’s housing needs. 

Most of these new homes were built on sites in Sutton Town Centre and the borough’s District Centres in line with the Council’s approach on protecting the ‘suburban heartlands’. 

146 affordable housing units were completed, including the delivery of 57 brand new council homes at Ludlow Lodge and 21 new council homes at Richmond Green.

The Council also has to demonstrate it can deliver the Mayor of London’s housing target - 2,242 new homes - over the next five years. Sutton has sufficient land to deliver over 2,700 new homes between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2026 - exceeding the target set.

A report to the next meeting of the Housing, Economy & Business Committee - the Annual Monitoring Report - on 9 March details these housing achievements and also highlights the performance of the Council’s planning policies as set out in its Local Plan. 

Other key achievements in 2019-20 include:

• delivery of 12,000 m2 of new commercial and employment floorspace

• increase of nearly 2,000 m2 of town centre uses

• majority of planning application appeals by developers won by the Council (75%).

• directing development to the most sustainable locations and protecting open spaces. 

Councillor Jayne McCoy, Chair of Sutton Council’s Housing, Economy & Business Committee, said:

“Sutton has established a strong track record of delivering new homes and commercial space.

“Sutton is not exempt from the housing crisis and I am pleased that we are playing our part in providing more homes, as well as delivering local employment opportunities with the increase in commercial development. Thanks to the Council’s Local Plan we are delivering growth while protecting the borough’s special character. 

“Meeting our housing targets means we don’t need to identify additional land for housing and can focus on existing sites for housing, commercial space and higher-quality public realm and protect our much loved green spaces.

“We will still need to keep a very close eye this year on the impact locally of the Government’s proposed changes to the planning system and ongoing uncertainty caused by the pandemic.”