// John Lewis is facing some hurdles over its first build-to-rent project
// According to local residents, the plan to build 430 flats in towers up to 19 storeys high in Ealing above a Waitrose supermarket is already months behind schedule
John Lewis is facing resistance over its first build-to-rent project, with the leader of the local council accusing the department store retailer of “bullying” and raising concerns about the height of its planned tower blocks and the lack of affordable housing.
The Times states that the ambitious plan to build 430 flats in towers up to 19 storeys high in the west London suburb of Ealing above a Waitrose supermarket is already months behind schedule, according to local residents.
Leader of Labour-controlled Ealing council Peter Mason has raised a number of concerns, while demonstrators and a Stop the Towers pressure group have also blasted the plans.
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The Ealing project is one of the first big tests for boss Sharon White’s diversification plan.
The chairwoman of John Lewis has set out an ambitious target to make 40% of group profits from non-retail sectors by 2030.
Back in December, John Lewis said it was aiming to build, furnish, rent out and maintain 10,000 homes within a decade, after signing a £500 million joint venture deal with the fund management group Abrdn.
It originally aimed to put in the planning application for the Ealing project by December 2022 after a public consultation was launched last July. But it has yet to be filed.
Mason tweeted last week: “At the moment it feels like a big institution is trying to twist arms and bully through a scheme that could be far better through a precarious planning process using the ever-present threat of an appeal.”
He complained that the retailer had not committed to the council’s target for 35% of homes to be affordable, pointing out that the borough had a waiting list of 11,000 families.
He was also concerned about the height of the towers. Ealing’s guidance was for a 7 to 13-storey development, but John Lewis wants to build as high as 19 storeys.
Although he added that John Lewis could help “drive up standards and quality in a market that is dominated by cruddy homes and bad landlords”.
John Lewis property director Chris Harris played down the dispute, telling The Times there was “always a bit of argy-bargy” in high-profile developments of this sort.
He said there was a trade-off between the number of affordable apartments John Lewis would be able to offer at discounted rents and the required height of the buildings.
John Lewis is still at the stage of consulting local residents and hopes to put in a planning application in the next two months. Harris said that the first flats will become available for rent in 2027 or 2028, as the business had originally planned.
John Lewis is due to report full-year results next week amid staff fears that the annual bonus may be axed. Analysts expect the group to post a third year of pre-tax losses.
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