A major developer has been pulled over the coals by South Holland district councillors for wanting to build less affordable housing at a Crowland scheme than was previously agreed.
Ashley King (Developments) Ltd was granted permission for 50 homes – including 16 affordable units (one third) – on land off Peterborough Road last year. But the Holbeach firm has since presented evidence that the development would be “unviable” at that level.
Planning committee chairman Coun Roger Gambba-Jones was damning in his appraisal of a policy shift which enables such a move and brought the application before the full committee to demonstrate the challenges of the viability argument which planning officers are now facing.
He told a meeting on October 27: “Not only are developers being able to reduce affordable housing provision from the third which we had previously enjoyed, they’re actually being able to nullify it, mainly based on viability.
“This is a disappointment, particularly where it’s a historic application where much of the financial consideration is already known. The land values are established, the land has probably been purchased and yet suddenly they can’t afford to do what they agreed to do.
“The upside of it is that, originally, the applicant had come to us and said ‘I’m sorry guv, I can’t afford any now’. What [our strategic housing manager Matthew Hogan] and our officers have been able to do is to negotiate to a point where we have got a reasonable level of provision and, just as importantly, a provision which matches the need.”
To underline the fact he only brought it to committee to highlight issues, Coun Gambba-Jones moved the officers’ recommendation to grant approval for four one-bedroom and one two-bedroom rented units plus five two-bedroom low-cost home ownership units.
Coun Jim Astill doubted that the application would have been passed originally with only 20 per cent affordable housing provision. He also noted that the development was already under way and a plan on the applicant’s website already showed ten affordable units.
Fellow Crowland ward member Bryan Alcock wanted to see the council share in the “uplift in revenue” which the developer would profit from, in order to provide affordable housing in the district.
The council’s development manager Richard Fidler urged members to consider that it was not just about a “blanket” numbers of homes but the right type, mix and tenure to meet identified housing need in Crowland and the latest scheme did that.
The application was passed 7-5 on a vote, with two abstentions (Coun Alcock and Coun Rodney Grocock).
