Wandsworth Council has just held its first Developer Forum, and it’s worth paying attention to if you own, rent out or hope to buy in the borough. More than 100 people from the development and investment worlds sat down with cabinet members and senior officers to talk about how to get more homes built, and built sooner. The council’s message was fairly simple: earlier conversations, clearer expectations, fewer surprises. Whether you’re a landlord wondering how new supply might affect your tenants or a homeowner curious about your area’s future, it’s useful to get some rental advice from letting agents in Wandsworth.
What the council actually announced?
Council leader Robert Morritt described it as a new chapter and said the borough is “open for business”. He was careful to add that this doesn’t mean saying yes to everything. The pitch is about being practical, reliable and clear on proposals from the start.
There’s also a commitment to a new Growth Plan. It’s meant to cover a range of housing, including homes to rent, homes to buy and affordable housing, along with the infrastructure needed to support them. The council says it wants developers as long-term partners rather than one-off applicants.
It’s the first in a planned series of forums, so this is a direction of travel rather than a finished policy.
Why this matters on the ground?
Anyone who has watched a planning application drag on will know the problem. Uncertainty costs money, and developers price that in or walk away. When a council promises earlier engagement and timely decisions, it’s trying to lower that risk.
For residents, the hope is that this brings more homes without sacrificing quality. Whether it does depends on delivery, not announcements. We’ll see how it plays out in the coming years.
The borough’s big regeneration areas
Wandsworth has a long track record here, and the council leaned on it. Battersea and Nine Elms are the obvious examples, a former industrial stretch of riverside turned into a whole new neighbourhood over the last decade or so.
Battersea Power Station is the centrepiece. Its development company reports more than 50 million visitors since the site opened in October 2022. It also says plans for the remaining 16 acres could add up to 3.2 million sq ft of residential, commercial and leisure space, plus thousands of jobs. Those are the developer’s own figures, so treat them as ambitions.
The council also pointed to opportunities running from Nine Elms through Clapham Junction to Wandsworth Town, plus sites elsewhere in the borough.
Three very different Wandsworth’s
This is where local knowledge matters, because the borough is not one market.
Nine Elms and Battersea are modern, riverside and heavily new-build, with the Northern line extension making commuting easy. Clapham Junction is one of the busiest rail interchanges in the country, which is a big reason buyers and tenants like the area. Wandsworth Town and the surrounding streets mix Victorian terraces, converted flats and family houses, with the river and the Common nearby.
Further out, Putney, Tooting and Earlsfield each have their own character and their own buyer profile. A development announcement that matters a lot in Nine Elms may mean very little in Earlsfield.
What more supply might mean for prices?
This is the question buyers usually ask. More homes can ease pressure, but it doesn’t work evenly or quickly.
Large new-build schemes tend to compete most with each other and with nearby flats. Period houses are scarce, and new apartments don’t really replace them. So the likeliest effect is more choice in the flat market, with family houses behaving differently. Planning, construction costs and mortgage rates will all shape how fast any of this arrives.
If you’re a landlord
Wandsworth has long had strong rental demand, helped by transport links, employment and the pull of Battersea. New schemes add modern competition, with amenities and professional management that older flats can’t always match.
That doesn’t make the older stock unlettable. We see this quite often: well-kept period flats in good locations still let well. But think about presentation, energy efficiency and realistic rents, because tenants compare everything.
Also keep an eye on changing rental regulations, which affect landlords across England.
If you’re selling
Look at what’s planned near you. A big scheme two streets away can bring noise and disruption in the short term and, in many cases, better amenities later. Buyers will ask about it, so know the answer.
If you’re buying
Check the local plan and any nearby applications before you commit. New developments can improve an area, but they can also change its character. Look at service charges and build quality on new-builds too.
What happens next
The next few forums will show whether this is a genuine change in approach or just good intentions. The proof will be consents granted, sites started and homes completed.
For now, the direction is clear. Wandsworth wants more homes and more investment, and it wants to say so out loud. You can read the full details here.