THE AMOUNT of council housing planned for a new estate could be slashed by more than 50 per cent in a bid to save the developers money, it has emerged.

Residents waiting for the ongoing West Hendon Estate regeneration have been told developers Barratt Metropolitan need to cut the total affordable housing from 680 to 543.

However, of these just 290 units will be provided for current rented tenants there, with the rest allocated on shared ownership schemes.

There are currently 510 people living in rented council accomodation on the estate, leaving 220 households in temporary accomodation with uncertain futures.

The redevelopment of the 1960s estate, to provide nearly 2,200 new homes, has been faltering as the developers struggle to get together cash to move it forward.

Last year the Government handed over more than £5m of taxpayer’s money to kickstart the work.

Woolmead Avenue resident and ward councillor Julie Johnson said it was “more bad news for West Hendon”.

She added: “There are leaseholders on this estate who want to move but have been stuck in limbo for ten years while this problem drags on.

“The developers are only making an undertaking to house the permanent tenants, but there are many people in temporary accommodation who have been there for years and have lives there and are part of the community.

“It’s Government money which has been given to private developers to do this project and they seem to be putting private profit first.”

Plans under discussion with Barnet Council, which would need to be passed by a planning committee, would also see underground car parking scrapped and the number of spaces per unit reduced from one to 0.8.

Cllr Johnson added: “It’s unrealistic to believe people are going to be using their cars less. If they build two bed properties there will probably be more than one vehicle in a household.

“It’s going to add more pressure to neighbouring streets.”

Ned Baker, development manager for Metropolitan Housing Trust, said no formal proposals had been submitted and they are still in talks with the council.

He added: “We’re reviewing the project in order to try and make the rest of the scheme deliverable.

“We’re looking at reducing the amount of affordable housing on the site to make the scheme become deliverable.”

He added it will be at least a year before any building work on the next part of the scheme could start because of the time taken to get planning applications.

Mr Baker also said there would be more opportunities for residents to have their say on future plans, following a packed meeting last Thursday over the scheme.