LAMBETH IS FOR SALE!!

The Great British Carve-up with Lambeth’s public land on the menu

London boroughs including Lambeth were fully represented at the UK’s very own public land sale in Leeds all this past week. 15,000 developers, landowners, and asset extractors have been mixing it up with senior officers, Mayors and councillors at UKREiiF, a 3-day swank’n’swill where public land is sold off.

Despite the devastating local elections a fortnight ago, Lambeth have been fully represented with senior officers Dipti Patel, Corporate Director of Growth, Matthew Dibben, Regeneration, and Rob Bristow, Head of Planning. The Greens, who form the largest party in Lambeth, promised in their manifesto that they would:

“Stop the sell off of void properties and council land… Pause and review all housing demolitions… [and] Review all current development schemes based on what benefits they bring to local communities”

Prospectuses of sites in ‘Opportunity London’ included 8 sites in Lambeth selling for up to £6bn. Six Lambeth housing sites were initially valued at £400m but sold to Vistry for £250m last summer.

Lambeth Council are still touting a £2.3bn development of offices and replacement homes beside St Thomas’ Hospital – despite funders Baupost pulling out, and strenuously opposed by local residents and small businesses evicted from Old Paradise Yard. Also on the menu was the ‘Waterloo Station Masterplan’ developed by Lambeth with Network Rail and valued at £3bn.

UKREiiF is the UK’s equivalent of the European MIPIM which descends on Cannes in the south of France each year, where City Mayors and local council leaders procure development of public land. In a flurry of industry buzzwords, UKREiif is described by the owners as:

“Supporting the UK’s property, infrastructure and built environment sectors… driving industry growth through meaningful connections and market insight: UKREiiF provides a unique platform… convening public and private sector leaders we help accelerate development pipelines…; and shaping strategic decision-making through thought leadership”

The Leeds UKREiiF swank started just 7 years ago but has proved enormously profitable: it was sold for £76m in July 2024.