A ceremony to mark a new phase in the development of 118 new affordable homes in Southall, was attended by Ealing's council leader Councillor Peter Mason, and Cllr Shital Manro, the council's cabinet member for good growth.

The Beaconsfield development, on the former Southall College site, was attended by the cllrs on 10 January and will provide a range of one, two and three-bedroom properties.

With work now well-underway, completion is expected in March 2025, and the first residents are likely to move in from April 2025.

The scheme is being developed by Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing and Bugler Developments. It is supported by grant funding from the Mayor of London.

The 118 new homes being built on the site are part of the council's significant efforts to address Ealing's affordable housing crisis and improve residents' lives. Since the beginning of 2022/23, work has started on more than 1,300 new affordable homes in the borough.

All of the new homes will be let at affordable rents. 29 of the properties will be available at London Affordable Rent, meaning that they will be suitable for families on the council's housing waiting list.

The remaining 89 homes will be available at London Living Rent – an affordable scheme designed to allow tenants to build up savings to buy their home. 

London Living Rent is aimed at households on middle incomes earning less than £60,000 per year.

Ealing Council says all of the flats will be let at affordable rent prices (credit: Ealing Council).

Councillor Mason said: "It is great to see the plans for more affordable housing at Beaconsfield Road really taking shape. Delivering much needed new housing is a top priority for the council and we are continuing to make good progress in our drive to deliver thousands of new, genuinely affordable homes for the borough by 2026."

The development will consist of 3 blocks of 7-storeys with shared amenity terraces as well as further amenity space on the ground floor. There will also be a sizeable play area on the ground floor level.

Ten of the properties will be easily adaptable for residents who are wheelchair users or have other accessibility requirements.

Making sure that new homes meet sustainability criteria as we continue to fight the climate crisis is critical and this will be a car-free development, although four wheelchair accessible parking spaces will be provided.

The new development is close to public transport, just 200m from Southall Rail Station, and there will be almost 200 cycle parking spaces as well as larger internal cycle stores.

Additional cycle parking spaces for visitors will also be provided.

Councillor Manro said: "I was delighted to celebrate this milestone in the development of these new homes and look forward to being able to welcome the new residents to this vibrant local community in 2025.

"London's affordable housing crisis is particularly acute in Ealing, with spiralling private rents and increased rates for mortgage holders, and we know that it is causing real concern for many of our residents.

"By working with our partners, we will continue to deliver the new genuinely affordable, accessible homes which our 7 towns urgently need."

We want to provide Ealing with more and more clickbait-free local news. To do that, we need a loyal newsletter following. Help us survive and sign up for our free weekly newsletter by clicking the link HERE.