Brokenshire unveils ‘anti-segregation’ plans for social housing tenants

Communities secretary James Brokenshire has joined the chorus of disapproval around segregated playing areas in mixed-tenure developments and said planning guidance will be tightened to ensure social housing tenants are not discriminated against.

The minister stepped in after London mayor Sadiq Khan repeated his call for the abolition of separate entrances for residents of different tenure living on the same development.

Brokenshire said planning guidance would be “toughened up” and a new Design Manual will promote best practice in inclusive design.

The government said the manual, part of its new Communities Framework, would set “clear expectations for the inclusivity of future developments and help ensure planning decisions promote social interaction in communities”.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday Brokenshire said cases highlighted by the Guardian newspaper – including Seren Homes in Greenwich, south east London, where the children of social housing tenants were barred from playing in certain areas of the scheme – made it clear circumstances had to change.

“It is very firmly my position that we should not have this sense of stigma, this sense of segregation, because of the nature of the home that you live in.

“I think that some of these cases that are being brought to our attention, whether it be playground spaces or this concept of a ‘poor door’, where your access to a building is somehow determined by the nature of the accommodation that you live in, that cannot be right.”

Brokenshire told the BBC more guidance on the regulations needed to be applied and councils needed to use their powers to pressure developers not to exclude social housing residents from certain areas.

On existing developments where social housing tenants might be prevented from mixing with their more affluent neighbours the minister said: “My call to anyone who is managing or owns a building of this kind with mixed tenure is to change the arrangement,” adding he would be “very happy to work with all interested parties” on breaking down such stigma.

Developers need to show a certain level of affordable housing to get schemes past planning committees, but the Guardian reported that some councils were claiming they did not enough power to prevent projects from having one entrance for social housing residents and another for those who had bought their homes.