Work to redevelop the twin Joyce Avenue and Snells Park estates with thousands of new homes could begin as soon as this month, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Designs for the new Joyce and Snells estates

Enfield Council aims to “accelerate the delivery” of a major estate regeneration project in Angel Edmonton despite concerns over borrowing hundreds of millions to pay for it.

The twin Joyce Avenue and Snells Park estates, which between them comprise 795 homes and sit in one of the most deprived parts of the borough, will be demolished and transformed into a new neighbourhood.

Plans for 2,028 homes in blocks up to 26 storeys tall – with half the units earmarked as affordable, including a net increase of 191 social homes – won approval from councillors last summer.

The council now says it wants to complete the redevelopment within 15 years, rather than the 20 previously envisaged, and is set to start work on site as soon as this month.

The homes will be delivered across eleven phases, with the first four being delivered by the council with 575 homes delivered, of which 481 will be affordable. This is thanks to £92.2million in funding from the government’s Affordable Homes Programme (AHP).

The affordable homes in the first four phases will consist of 267 new social rent homes, 88 shared ownership homes, and the reprovision of 126 social rent homes.

The remaining phases, which encompass 1,453 homes, are expected to be delivered by a partner or developer, but a future strategy is yet to be determined.

At a housing and regeneration scrutiny panel on Tuesday (4th) Ayten Guzel, the cabinet member for housing, responded to concerns raised about the amount of borrowing the council needed to deliver the scheme.

With the scheme’s total cost nearly £800m and approximately £380m of borrowing set for the first four phases, Cllr Guzel acknowledged that the economic backdrop and an uncontrollable market sector made regeneration projects “difficult” and “not easy to navigate”.

She said: “We’re in a better position than a lot of other councils and we’re in such a position that we are able to borrow at risk and to invest long-term.

“This isn’t just about building homes, it’s about building communities, and we’ve got to start somewhere.”

Cllr Guzel added: “The conditions on the estate that people have had to live with – the crime, the anti-social behaviour – this is one way of addressing and improving the quality of life of existing tenants as well as investing in our homes.”

The existing Joyce Avenue Estate in Angel Edmonton

Labour panel member Margaret Greer echoed Cllr Guzel’s hope the scheme could be sped up and delivered faster, pointing out she didn’t think there was going to be “a problem at all”.

Opposition Conservative councillor Tom O’Halloran asked the council to clarify the timeframe for the scheme’s delivery.

The council’s head of development Aneesh Maini said: “At the moment it is 20 years, but we are looking to accelerate that and bring it down to 15.”

Fellow Tory panel member Edward Smith questioned the scheme’s viability, particularly on the first four phases, and asked how the density and height of the buildings would be managed given the amount.

Joanne Drew, director of housing and regeneration, said securing £50m in funding from the Greater London Authority (GLA) via the Home for Londoners Land Fund last year “was a key negotiation”.

She said: “With regeneration in the current economy you can never say over a long-term scheme things won’t change, but the beauty of this scheme in terms of its multiple phases is we have different options in how we go about delivery.

“With the acceleration we want to bring forward, in parallel with the affordable, the private sales part.

“This will enhance the overall area more quickly, get a capital receipt in, get the private sector in, which will support mixed communities, a mixed economy, and add to the housing revenue area business plan [a financial forecast of the council’s housing stock].”

Joanne added that the existing 18 housing blocks were “expensive to maintain”. She said: “You’ve got to [compare] the cost of running an increasingly aged stock against the cost of investing in new stock, and the reduced management costs.”

The new housing on site will include duplexes, a “small number” of houses, and larger flats designed for families.

Joanne said: “Residents were not concerned about height, they wanted new and quality accommodation, and a design that reduced anti-social behaviour. So we think we’ve got a community mandate behind the height.

“We do need to manage this accommodation well, so we’re looking at installing concierge, managers on site, and certainly surveillance and security coverage to make sure we’re managing effectively.”

The enabling works at Joyce and Snells due to begin this month will be carried out by Hill Partnerships Ltd and include the demolition of a row of 15 existing garages, relocation of an electrical substation, and creation of a temporary playground to offset the loss of an existing play space where the first new housing block will be built.

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.