Bromley has approved 42 council homes on Poverest Road, Orpington and 10 more on Castlecombe Road, Mottingham, all for households on its housing register.

Bromley’s Development Control Committee has granted planning permission for 52 new affordable homes across two sites, 42 on Poverest Road in Orpington and 10 on Castlecombe Road in Mottingham. All of them will be kept by the council and let to households on Bromley’s housing register, under the council’s Bromley Homes for Bromley People programme.

Both applications went through the committee’s meeting on 23 July, where the Orpington scheme (reference 25/05699/FPA) and the Mottingham scheme (reference 26/00675/FPA) were each granted permission. The council announced the decisions on 7 August.

Poverest Road: 42 houses on the adult education centre site

The larger scheme demolishes the Poverest Adult Education Centre and 18 Church Hill Wood to build 42 affordable homes: a mix of two, three and four bedroom semi-detached and terraced houses, each with a private garden, including five wheelchair-accessible homes. The plans include 29 parking spaces plus cycle parking, a new publicly accessible landscaped open space, a community green and new pedestrian and cycle routes linking the site to Tillingbourne Green, which would itself be improved. (London Borough of Bromley, 7 August 2026)

The council’s project page for the site puts the cost of the Poverest scheme at £23.7 million, with £4.8 million of grant funding secured from the Greater London Authority.

There is a significant condition attached. The homes can only be built if the adult education centre closes, and the council says a public consultation on its proposals for the Adult Education service is expected in September. Under those proposals, courses would move to a range of locations across the borough, including libraries and Children and Family Centres, and the Kentwood Adult Education Centre would get a major refurbishment. The council states there is no planned reduction in the Adult Education service if the proposals go ahead. Demolition of an unused hut on the site, granted separately, is already under way.

Castlecombe Road: 10 family houses on former youth centre land

The Mottingham scheme replaces the Castlecombe Youth Centre building with 10 affordable houses, two and three bedroom homes arranged as a two-storey terrace with a red and brown brick front, with 8 parking spaces plus cycle parking. The youth centre itself is not disappearing: the council said when the plans were first published that it is moving into the Castlecombe Children and Family Centre next door once that building is refurbished and expanded, freeing some of the youth centre land for the housing. At that stage the council expected works to start in late 2026 and complete in 2027, subject to the planning approval it has now secured.

Comparison panel of the two approved Bromley council housing schemes: 42 homes with 29 parking spaces on Poverest Road, Orpington and 10 homes with 8 parking spaces on Castlecombe Road, Mottingham, both approved 23 July 2026
Graphic by Bromley Online.

What neighbours said

The two applications drew different levels of response: 67 people commented on the Poverest application and 12 on the Mottingham one. The council says the main concerns raised were the loss of the Poverest Adult Education Centre, the replacement arrangements for the youth centre, perceived overdevelopment and parking.

Councillor Alexa Michael, chairman of the Development Control Committee, called the schemes “two good applications for Bromley Council to build much-needed affordable housing for local people”, while Councillor Yvonne Bear, Executive Councillor for Renewal, Recreation and Housing, said the council is “bringing forward affordable housing developments wherever we can across the borough to tackle housing pressures”. (London Borough of Bromley)

The pressure behind the programme is real: the council says over 1,300 Bromley households are currently living in nightly-paid temporary accommodation.

What it means for you

If you are on Bromley’s housing register, these 52 homes will be council-let rather than sold, but there is no allocation date yet; the Poverest homes in particular depend on the September consultation about the adult education centre, so completion is still some way off. If you use the Poverest Adult Education Centre, September’s consultation is the moment to have your say on where courses move; details will appear on the council’s news pages when it opens. Near either site, expect demolition and construction traffic once works begin; the hut demolition at Poverest has already started.

Both decision reports and plans are public: search the references 25/05699/FPA and 26/00675/FPA on the council’s planning register via our Bromley planning applications guide. For what approvals like these mean for the wider market, see our Bromley house prices page, and for other current decisions our planning news roundup.

Sources