Costs on James Riley Point Leap by 45%

This is James Riley Point (old and new). It is currently an (almost) empty block of flats on the Carpenters Estate.

In the bad old days when Robin Wales was in charge, James Riley Point and a  number of other buildings on the estate were due to be demolished in order to make way for a new mixed development on the whole site.

The option of refurbishing the two tower blocks on the estate was mooted, but dismissed as the costs were deemed to be excessive.

But then came 2018 and Wales ceased to be mayor. In his 

place came a vibrant new mayor and she knew better what to do with Carpenters Estate. Shortly after assuming office, Mayor Fiaz stopped all of the work being done on the regeneration of the estate and instructed officers to go back to the drawing board.

The first result of this was to put back the regeneration by 8-10 years, but that was okay because the mayor proudly proclaimed that 50% of all the new housing would be social housing.

Now work has begun and Inside Housing have reported on a recent cabinet meeting in Newham where the mayor and councillors decided to up the spending on James Riley Point by a massive 43%. The costs of refurbishing the tower block have risen from £54m to £78m. You will recall, under Wales the costs of refurbishment were considered too great. Maybe they had a point.

We are used to the mayor blaming everyone else for her errors, now she has added Vladmir Putin to the list. Apparently, the cost overruns are the fault of the war in Ukraine. The council tax payer will be left footing the bill for the increased loans (for which there will be no increase in revenue).

At 136 flats planned for the block, the cost per flat has risen from roughly £400k per flat to £535k per flat. Given that the council owns the land and the structure, this is a major embarrassment. The flats will be let at social rents for the lucky few, at London Affordable Rents for others and with some being let in shared-ownership agreements.

Mayor Fiaz and Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Mohammed have not excelled in this. In short it is a debacle, but whether it is a matter of interest for our elected councillors, only time will tell.

It has nothing to do with personal pronouns, so the official opposition won’t be interested. Perhaps the Budget Scrutiny Commission will interrogate the figures, they at least understand that the council cannot continue if it can never break even.