The Aylesham Centre

New housing

The proposed plans for the Aylesham Centre and Peckham bus station site need to include around 850 homes. This number was set by the Government’s Planning Inspector as part of the Examination in Public (EiP) of the Southwark Plan.

The proposed development at the Aylesham site will produce about 300 affordable homes. Around 210 of these would be for social rent. We are pressing for some of the intermediate homes to be managed by a Community Land Trust.

The proposal for the Aylesham Centre includes a mix of private and social housing (primarily flats). These homes will come in a mix of tenures and sizes, designed to accommodate a diverse range of households:

• at least 35% of the homes will be affordable housing including at least 25% at social rents (as required by Southwark Plan Policy P1 Social Rented and Intermediate Housing)
• at least 60% of the homes will be two bed and above, and of the total homes 20% will be three-bed and above (as required by Southwark Plan Policy P2 Family Homes)
• all of the homes would be required to meet minimum space standards and provide private and communal amenity space (as set out in Southwark Plan Policy P15 Residential Design)

Read the Southwark Plan for more information on

• the allocation of housing in the proposed Aylesham Centre plans
• how we will deliver our overall housing targets

Southwark’s housing targets

On average, Southwark is expected to deliver 2,355 new homes per year across the whole borough.

The borough’s housing targets are set by the London Plan, which aims to optimise the redevelopment potential of town centre sites with good public transport accessibility.

The Southwark Plan will be reviewed in 2027. The review will need to:

• align with the targets set by the London Plan
• address the significant need for housing in the borough

For these reasons, it is unlikely that the 2027 review will result in a reduced number of planned houses at the Aylesham Centre.

Affordable housing in Southwark

The Government defines affordable housing as subsidised housing, provided to the tenant or buyer at a discount (anything up to 80% of the local market rates).

However, Southwark Council insists that a minimum of 25% of housing in the borough is social rent housing, plus 10% intermediate (usually shared ownership). This includes council housing or social rent housing provided at social rents (generally 40% of the local market rate). It also covers homes designated as Intermediate Affordable Housing, which includes:

• discount market sale (discounted by at least 20% of market value)
• shared ownership (part buy, part rent)
• shared equity (where no rent is charged on the unowned share)
• London Living Rent (only available to household incomes of less than £60,000)
• Community Land Trusts (homes for sale where values are capped by multiples of household income and stay affordable)

At least 35% of the homes in the Aylesham Centre and Peckham bus station developments will be affordable homes (including 25% at social rents and 10% intermediate).

The intermediate homes will include a number of homes that we want to be managed by a Community Land Trust. All the affordable homes are secured in perpetuity within a Section 106 agreement.

The local housing situation

Like every London borough, Southwark has a shortage of housing. More than 17,000 people are currently on the housing waiting list, including families in severe overcrowding. Demand outstrips supply, and private sector rents will continue to rise unless new homes are built.

This is why we need to encourage new developments from the private sector, alongside its own programme for building new council homes.

Southwark is already the biggest social housing landlord in London. We have the biggest council house-building programme in the country and have an ambition to build 11,000 new council homes by 2043.

We have invested in several New Homes sites in Peckham, including the Flaxyard site, which will create 96 homes for council rent later this year. We also completed and let 74 new council homes recently in Commercial Way.

We need the private sector to step up and deliver social rent homes too, in line with planning policy.

Peckham is an increasingly popular part of the borough and the housing need here is just as acute, if not more so, than any other part of Southwark.

The height of planned buildings at the Aylesham Centre

The Southwark Plan (Policy 74 Site Allocation) states that a building of up to 20 storeys, set back within the eastern part of the site, would be likely to have a more limited impact on neighbouring conservation areas, listed buildings and views across the site from the surrounding area and beyond.

Careful consideration would of course need to be given to the neighbours as the detailed design emerges.

This was considered at the Examination in Public (EiP) of the Southwark Plan. The view of the Planning Inspector at the EiP was that, subject to the consideration of issues raised in the detailed design, the site could accommodate a building of up to 20 storeys high.

Tall buildings are not uncommon in this neighbourhood. For example the nearby Witcombe Point residential tower is also 20 storeys and more than 50m in height.

Page last updated: 21 May 2024