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Leader of the Council and cabinet members

Information about the Leader of the Council and cabinet members and their portfolios.

Councillor Helen Dennis

Cabinet Member for New Homes & Sustainable Development

Cllr Dennis’s responsibilities include:

  • new council homes – the council’s work to build thousands of new council homes; including new council homes for older people; net-zero homes; and working with the Cabinet Member for Council Homes to deliver new council homes on the Aylesbury, Tustin, Ledbury and Abbeyfield estates
  • new affordable homes – including housing association social rent homes; keyworker homes; community land trusts and housing cooperatives; homes for refugees; and temporary accommodation
  • homelessness – including support for people who are at risk of being or who become homeless; working to end rough sleeping; securing good quality temporary accommodation
  • planning and building control – planning applications, enforcement and policy (including the Southwark Plan, neighbourhood plans, area action plans and supplementary planning documents); Section 106 agreements and payments; and building control and dangerous structures
  • Old Kent Road – working with the community to shape development in the OKR opportunity area, including the delivery of new affordable homes and community infrastructure
  • major infrastructure projects, including the Bakerloo Line Extension, the new Elephant & Castle Northern Line station, wider improvements to train and tube stations; and Strategic Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
  • opening a Southwark LGBTQ+ cultural space; establishing a Latin American cultural space
  • Local Community Infrastructure Levy (LCIL)
  • the renewal of Peckham Library Square
  • empty homes and short-term lets – including the council’s Empty Homes Action Plan; tackling empty homes across the private rented sector
  • responding to the Southwark Land Commission
  • renewal of the Aylesbury, Tustin, Ledbury and Abbeyfield estates - working with residents to deliver new and improved homes and estates (working with the Cabinet Member for Council Homes)