20 June 2019
Green Party councillors are urging local councils to work together to set fair contributions for affordable housing from developers wanting to build new homes.
Councillor Paul Neale said:
“When developers want to build more than 16 new houses for profit, a viability assessment is carried out by council planners to ascertain the number of affordable properties needed to be built or an amount of money given to the local council to help fund local affordable housing. In the case of Norwich City Council, this goal is 33%.
“The reality is a much lower level, resulting in the council’s own assessment of 38.3% affordable housing in Norwich being missed by a long chalk. Developers often claim that they can only afford to contribute lower amounts than they should and the result is that less affordable housing is built in Norfolk.
“At some councils, it appears to be the case that lower contributions are agreed before planning permission is awarded; other councils appear to be more likely to lower the contribution after permission has been granted. Either way, people who need homes are losing out.”
The suggestion being put forward by Green councillors is for councils in this area, such as Norwich City Council, South Norfolk Council and Broadland District Council to join together to create a body which could carry out viability assessments in a fairer way, clubbing together limited resources to achieve more in-depth analysis of developers’ proposals. The outcome could be millions of pounds’ worth of extra affordable homes being built.
Notes:
Norwich City Council area | Strategic Housing Market Assessment – units | |||
Future need (2015-36) | Market Rate | Affordable | Total | % Affordable |
1 bedroom Flat | 1049 | 2089 | 3138 | 66.57% |
2+ bedrooms Flat | 1159 | 1216 | 2375 | 51.20% |
2 bedrooms House | 1128 | 647 | 1775 | 36.45% |
3 bedrooms House | 4857 | 1459 | 6316 | 23.10% |
4 bedrooms House | 989 | 351 | 1340 | 26.19% |
5+ bedrooms House | 193 | 70 | 263 | 26.62% |
TOTAL | 9375 | 5832 | 15207 | 38.25% |
Central Norfolk Strategic Housing Market Assessment 2017
[1]Figure 83 of 2017 SHMA, http://www.greaternorwichgrowth.org.uk/dmsdocument/2367 (page 101)