Agenda item

Removal of condition 12 of planning application 06/00631/OUT (Outline application including details of means of access for employment use and residential development with associated play areas, landscaping, parking and access) relating to the provision of 30% affordable housing.

The Committee considered a report of the Principal Planning Officer regarding an application to remove condition 12 on the original 2007 outline approval that 30% of all housing on the site was affordable (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Principal Planning Officer gave a detailed presentation which included photographs of the site. He advised that since the report had been circulated Shincliffe and Cassop cum Quarrington Parish Councils had objected to the reduction in affordable housing proposed. They considered that the developer acquired the application site at a cheap price and reclamation costs were lower than anticipated. Bowburn and Parkhill Community Partnership considered that the County Durham Local Plan should be given little weight at this stage. If granted other developers subjected to 30% affordable housing on their sites would look to amend schemes and this may cause undersupply. The reasoning behind the conditions attached to the original application approved by the Secretary of State should still apply.

Members were also advised by the Legal Officer of a proposed amendment to the recommendation  in the report which required the applicant to enter into a Section 106 Agreement to secure the provision of 59 no. affordable dwellings on site and to the contribution towards off site provision of 4 no. affordable homes. It was understood that the 59 no. on site dwellings had now been provided but conclusive evidence of this had not been received from the developer. It was therefore proposed that the recommendation be amended to state that delegated authority be granted to the Area Team Leader (Central and East) to revise the Section 106 Agreement if necessary to ensure that the 59 no. affordable dwellings on site were secured.

Mr G Brooks, the applicant’s agent outlined the developers’ reasons for reducing affordable housing provision. He advised that the site was purchased and remediated at costs based on the selling prices of homes prior to the collapse of the housing market. Dunelm Homes had successfully applied to receive Government Kickstart Funding which allowed them to complete 59 affordable properties.

The ProVal system had shown that Dunelm Homes had suffered a loss and that the site was now valued considerably less than when it was purchased. The system had also demonstrated their inability to provide further affordable housing. Although he was unable to provide a figure their projected profit was shown as 8% which was below the current market.

In discussing the application a Member referred to the decision to refuse the application in July 2012 because the reduced delivery of affordable housing was contrary to the aims of sustainable development and mixed communities.  The County Durham Plan proposed 20% affordable housing but this had not yet been adopted and therefore 30% provision should still apply.

The Officer responded that the County Durham Plan, although only at the preferred options stage, was informed by the latest evidence base on affordable housing in the form of the most recent SHMA. This established that there was a 20% affordable housing need in the area as opposed to 30% when the original planning permission was granted. He had reservations about relying on the evidence base in the 2004 Plan.

At a Member’s request the Legal Officer outlined the principles of affordable housing to the Committee.

Resolved:

That Members were minded to approve the application with the authority to issue the decision delegated to the Area Team Leader (Central and East) subject to:-

(i)                 the conditions outlined in the report;

(ii)               the completion of a Section 106 Agreement to secure a contribution of £147, 472 towards the off site provision of 4 no. affordable homes;

(iii)       the completion of a Section 106 Agreement (should the Area Team Leader (Central and East) feel it necessary)  to ensure that the provision of 59 no. affordable dwellings is secured on site.