Catherine West MP today welcomed the news that the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has purchased the St Ann’s Hospital site in Haringey through his new Land Fund – a deal which will enable the redevelopment of the hospital and provide hundreds of new homes, half of which will be genuinely affordable.

Catherine said: “I am delighted that the St Ann’s Hospital site in Haringey will be the first purchased by the Mayor of London’s brand new City Hall Land Fund, and that half of all the new homes built will be genuinely affordable.

I’ve been arguing for years that the original planning permission for the site was unacceptable, with a pathetically low 14% affordable housing, and I’ve been a strong supporter of the active St Ann’s Redevelopment Trust (StART) campaign for a community-led development.

Housing is the number one issue people come to talk to me about at my regular advice surgeries, and far too many people in Hornsey & Wood Green are living in unsuitable, inadequate, expensive housing.

We desperately need homes that local people can actually afford to live in, and this deal will provide hundreds of genuinely affordable homes as well as a much-needed new mental health facility. It shows what a Labour Mayor can achieve for London – and I hope it’s the only the first of many such schemes across the capital.”

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I am determined to do everything with the powers and resources at my disposal to tackle the housing crisis head on, and crucially that means building more new and genuinely affordable homes for Londoners.

“As Mayor, I’ve set out how City Hall will take a more active and direct approach to unlocking sites across the capital. Late last year I announced my plans for a new Land Fund to buy sites – and at St Ann’s we are showing what this can achieve. Not only will my intervention unlock this site, but it will also allow us nearly to double the number of homes, and crucially increase six-fold the number of affordable homes that had previously been given planning permission. I am pleased my investment will see the redevelopment of a new mental health facility and in due course we will recycle this fund to buy more sites so that we can build more affordable homes.

“Despite the government still failing to give us the investment and powers we need to make a true step change in homebuilding in London, we are showing what can be done. It is an approach councils and other local authorities across the country may look to adopt to ensure they play a key role in fixing the housing crisis.”