Enfield Council will own all 127 social rent homes in the Alma Estate's next phase, under completed deals with Vistry. The 421-home Phase 2B is under way.

The deal is signed. Enfield Council and developer Vistry have completed a series of agreements that put all 127 social rent homes in the next phase of the Alma Estate regeneration into council ownership, and Phase 2B of the Ponders End scheme has formally commenced.

The announcement, made by Vistry on 15 September, completes the arrangement we reported in August, when a council decision authorised the purchase of a further 47 homes and a contractual reset of the whole scheme. Phase 2B, the penultimate stage of the estate’s rebuild, will deliver 421 homes: 294 for open market sale and 127 at social rent, 30 per cent of the phase.

How the 127 homes add up

Under the original 2014 Development Agreement the council was due to take just 34 replacement homes in this phase. The full 127 breaks down as:

  • 34 replacement homes already due under the existing agreement, now accelerated
  • 46 homes in Block A, agreed in March 2026
  • 47 homes in Block B, agreed in August 2026

The homes range from one to five bedrooms. The council’s decision report sets out the mix: 36 one-bedroom, 21 two-bedroom, 56 three-bedroom, 11 four-bedroom and 3 five-bedroom homes. That makes 70 of the 127 family-sized, with three bedrooms or more.

Two charts: how the council's 127 Alma Estate Phase 2B homes build up from 34 replacement homes, 46 in Block A and 47 in Block B; and the bedroom mix of 36 one-bed, 21 two-bed, 56 three-bed, 11 four-bed and 3 five-bed homes
Graphic by Enfield Today
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One thing has shifted since the revised planning permission was granted in December 2025. That consent described the affordable housing across the two final phases as 187 homes, split between 107 shared ownership and 80 social rent. The completed agreements instead put 127 homes at social rent, the lowest rent tier, in Phase 2B alone, all owned by the council.

What the council paid is still not public. The price sits in a confidential appendix to the August decision, and the purchase is funded through a combination of Greater London Authority affordable housing grant and borrowing on the council’s housing revenue account.

What it means for you

The 127 will be council homes let at social rent, in a borough where the average house price is around £471,000 on the latest Land Registry figures. No date has been published for the first lettings: the homes come with the construction of Phase 2B, which has just begun.

For Ponders End, the completed deal means the rebuild keeps moving rather than stalling around its developer’s finances, a risk the council’s own report was candid about in August. Vistry has delivered 679 homes on the estate so far, alongside the new Station Square, shops, a cafe, a gym, a medical centre and a replacement youth centre. The full scheme comes to 1,402 homes.

The last phase still has a hurdle to clear: as we reported in August, Phase 3 cannot be drawn down until the council secures vacant possession of 69 properties, and the council has 10 months from completion of the deed before the contractual long stop date. The borough’s other big applications are tracked on our planning news page.

Cllr Lee Chamberlain, the council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Technology, called the completed deal “really positive news for Enfield”, saying that “bringing 127 social rent homes into Council ownership means more genuinely affordable homes for local people”. Kevin Delve, managing director of Vistry East London, said the agreements “demonstrate the strength of our long-standing partnership with Enfield Council”.

Sources: Vistry press release, 15 September 2026; Enfield Council decision report KD 5738, signed 6 August 2026.