Alma Estate: council to buy 93 homes as final phases unlock

Enfield Council will buy a further 47 homes from developer Vistry Partnerships in Phase 2B of the Alma Estate regeneration in Ponders End, taking the number of homes it is acquiring in the phase to 93. The decision was signed by the council’s Executive Director of Housing and Regeneration on 6 August and takes effect on 14 August unless councillors call it in for scrutiny by 13 August. (Enfield Council, decision KD 5738)

The same decision authorises a fourth Deed of Variation to the development agreement, the contractual reset the council says is needed to deliver the estate’s final phases, 2B and 3. The purchase price is set out in a confidential appendix and is not public.

A decade-old deal, rewritten for 2026

The Alma Estate regeneration began with a development agreement signed in 2014 with Countryside Properties, now Vistry Partnerships. The officer report behind the decision says rising construction costs and changing market conditions forced a revised planning application for the remaining phases, which was granted in December 2025. The approved final scheme comprises 723 homes: 536 for private sale, 187 affordable homes (107 shared ownership and 80 social rent), 34 replacement homes and 22 pre-emption homes, plus 377 square metres of commercial floorspace.

The council agreed in March 2026 to buy 46 affordable homes in Phase 2B. Through the negotiations around the Deed of Variation it has now secured a further 47, bringing its total to 93 and, with the 34 replacement homes Vistry is due to deliver in the phase, contributing towards what the report counts as 127 homes in all. The purchases will be funded through a combination of Greater London Authority affordable housing grant and borrowing on the council’s housing revenue account.

The report says the variation also removes contractual barriers to the final phases: the developer has waived the viability condition for Phases 2B and 3, an agreed mechanism will repay historic compulsory purchase costs the developer owes the council, and Vistry has committed to a guaranteed level of social value across the remaining phases, a requirement that did not exist when the 2014 agreement was signed.

Phase 3 hinges on emptying 69 properties

The report is candid that the last hurdle for Phase 3 is vacant possession of the 69 properties within it. As at the report’s writing: 9 were empty, 4 more were believed empty pending confirmation, possession proceedings had been issued for 38, notices had been served and expired on 16 council temporary accommodation properties still occupied, and the final 2 were due to be vacated on 24 July and 1 August. The council’s homelessness service has been instructed to begin possession proceedings for the remaining 16 temporary accommodation properties, and the council has 10 months from completion of the deed before the Phase 3 long stop date is reached.

What it means for you

For Ponders End, the decision means 93 of the new Phase 2B homes will be council owned affordable housing, on top of the replacement homes for returning residents, in a scheme the council locates in Ponders Green ward next to the borough’s rail link into London. Our planning news page tracks the borough’s other big applications, and our house prices page tracks what homes in the area actually sell for.

If you want to challenge the decision, the call-in window for councillors closes on 13 August; the decision page linked above records the current call-in count, which stood at zero when the decision was published.

If you live in the Phase 3 area, the report confirms the programme is pressing on with possession proceedings to meet its contractual deadline. Anyone affected can raise their case through the council’s housing service or their ward councillors via the council’s democracy site.