A new public consultation on the Dolphin Square redevelopment plans has been launched following the inclusion of an "affordable" housing offer in Westbrook's development plans.

The "affordable" housing is derisory in relation to the development plans which will increase the number of units  at Dolphin Square by 189 residential units plus an additional 81 serviced apartments for the Dolphin House hotel.

The development will result in a total of 1,500 units comprising 1,295 residential units and 205 serviced apartments, all on a site of only 7 acres which already has a built density far in excess of recommended limits.

As reported before, the "affordable" housing offer includes 23 units at social rent to be nominated for tenants by the council and 34 one bed flats at "intermediate" rent. All of the units will be owned and managed by Westbrook.

According to recent government guide-lines, "intermediate" rent is defined as being 20 per cent below market rent. Westbrook claim that their current market offering at Dolphin Square is already at "intermediate" rent levels which means £400 a week for a one-bed flat. Westbrook requires tenants to have a minimum income of £65,000 a year and the Government guide-lines state that occupants of "intermediate" rent units must not have an income of more than £66,000 a year.

Under no circumstances can these rent levels be regarded as affordable and available for council nomination since the rent is well in excess of social rent levels and Local Housing Allowance rate levels for housing benefit applicants.

As part of the scheme, Westbrook intends to build 16 4-bedroom townhouses with garages on the Western carriageway backing onto Claverton Street. It is estimated that these houses alone, a small part of the overall development, will have a sale value of more than £2.5 million each.

It is clear that the "affordable" housing offer is derisory and will not compensate for the damage to the historic nature of the existing buildings and gardens, the damage to the surrounding Conservation areas, the damage to the village community of Pimlico, and the increase in ultra short-term lettings brought about by the virtual doubling in size of the Dolphin House hotel, let alone the vastly increased density which is already much greater than the local nearby high-density council estates of Churchill Gardens, Lillington Gardens, Tachbrook and Millbank.

We urge you to go to the Westminster planning portal at www.westminster.gov.uk  and register your opposition to these affordable housing proposals in particular and the whole of this scheme.

It will only take you 5 or 10 minutes to register and make your views known. Also please make a second objection if you have objected already to the these plans since this consultation is specifically in regard to the "affordable" housing offer.

The reference of the application on the planning portal is:- 

18/01099/FULL

Also please continue to circulate the latest news on the petition to your friends and colleagues, especially using social media, and we thank all of you again who have made a financial contribution on change.org to further spread the petition.