Redevelopment of Dollis Valley estate due to restart in September after three-year delay in demolishing vacant flats
Completion of the redevelopment of the Dollis Valley estate – where blocks of flats and maisonettes have been awaiting demolition for the last three years – is finally to go ahead with access to a £58 million grant from the Greater London Authority.
Regeneration of the estate was stalled in 2023 because the developers Vistry said the scheme previously agreed with Barnet Council for 126 new privately-owned and 95 affordable homes was no longer viable.
A revised plan approved at a cabinet meeting will now provide for the construction of 208 affordable homes which will be managed for the council by Barnet Homes.
The new Dollis Valley houses – 187 for social rent and 21 for key workers – will provide what is described as a “significant” contribution to Barnet’s target to deliver 1,000 new council homes.
But by abandoning the previously agreed construction of over 100 new private homes, the council has angered owners of new Dollis Valley houses who fear this will alter the balance of an estate which was supposed to be a 50/50 split between private and social ownership.
Despite what was described at the meeting as the “potential guilt” felt by some councillors for letting down the private owners, the cabinet decided there was no other viable option than to accept Vistry’s latest proposal.
To qualify for access to £58.85 million of GLA affordable housing grant, construction of the new houses has to start by September this year.
If the council failed to meet the deadline one option would be to demolish the vacant flats and maisonettes and retain the empty site until the housing market improved but that would expose the council to further financial risk.
The first three phases of the Dollis Valley regeneration have delivered over 400 new houses in what the council describes as “a low-rise, gentle density garden suburb style development dominated by houses with gardens and traditional streets.”
The final two phases of the scheme – which would result in the demolition of the vacant Garrowsfield and Mill Bridge blocks – were originally intended to provide 126 private and 95 affordable homes.
Poor market conditions and increased construction costs were said to have made this “significantly unviable” which resulted in Vistry proposing the construction of 208 affordable homes at “a fixed price” and 13 private homes, the scheme which has now been approved.
Tags: #Barnet Council #Development #Planning
2 thoughts on “Redevelopment of Dollis Valley estate due to restart in September after three-year delay in demolishing vacant flats”
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This is the biggest financial failure of Labour Barnet council this year. The deal with Vistry is bad, very poor governance from Barnet officers, Barnet is getting an expensive shanty town, this demonstrates a shining example of poor government process and how Labour destroy community’s. This also does not read accurately to events, suggest you check your sources.
This is a very inaccurate and false account. Very evidently to me Vistry who are on the verge of financial collapse and in complete desperation to stay afloat have very successfully manipulated Barnet council officers and councillors, who through utter incompetency have simply green lit this failed project with agreement to immediately pay 75% of total funds upfront to Vistry, it is an astonishingly poor and extremely high risk investment into a failing builder. Why no mention here of the extremely high interest borrowing the council has to do to make up the remainder of the funds not covered by the grant ? Or the lack of any reasonable consultation with local residents ? Or the now evident mis-selling of the prior private homes in prior Phases, who will cover the costs of the financial losses to residents. I suspect some form of further action here will come.
This is not a win for anyone other than Vistry, who just like another comparable collapsed company carillon, will no doubt creatively shuffle the incompetently managed GLA grant money to cover their mounting debts as they shed more staff.
These are now very small, cheap bad quality homes akin to something from soviet Russia’s 1950’s, with a short 50 year lease, just what you would expect from the Labour Party, running Barnet into the ground, it’s almost like the Labour run GLA are working in tandem to destroy Barnet, Why now bring in the utter failure of Barnet homes back into the picture ? Did they not run the original homes literally into the ground.
Labour – your an utter disgrace and you have no place in Barnet for your communist ways..