Door is closed on affordable homes

May 22 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

TARGETS for affordable housing in parts of Northumberland may have to be abandoned after a High Court judge ruled that property in the area is already “as cheap as chips”.

Officers at Blyth Valley Council had wanted to force any company building more than 10 homes to offer at least 30% at a discounted rate.

But a challenge by Persimmon Homes, Barratt Homes and Millhouse Developments has led to a judge forcing the council to scrap its housing target. In London yesterday, senior planning judge Mr Justice Andrew Collins said the 30% target was not needed and agreed with previous Government assessments which labelled housing as “cheap as chips”.

The council targets were set out in a strategy development plan which had been approved by one Government inspector.

But during the two-day hearing, the judge was told that a different Government inspector in a previous planning inquiry had found Blyth Valley Council’s area to be one of the lowest housing cost areas of the country.

Persimmon Homes (North East), Barratt Homes and Millhouse Developments brought the case to court, claiming their housing plans were prejudiced by the council policy, which dramatically reduces the profitability of development schemes.

The policy stated: “A target of 30% of affordable housing will be sought as a proportion of all new housing developments in the borough. This policy will apply to all new housing developments capable of providing 10 dwellings or more.”

However, the developers argued that, prior to this policy being finalised by the council, two other Government inspectors had found in planning inquiries that such a proportion of affordable housing was not needed in the area.

In one of those inquiries, in relation to a planning application for 850 homes in West Blyth, a inspector concluded that he doubted whether even a 10% target was justified, adding: “That is, even if there is a sound case to be made for any specific provision where Blyth is a low housing cost town in one of the lowest housing cost areas of the country.”

The three developers claimed the inspector failed to provide any proper, adequate or intelligible reasons for why the 30% figure was justified.

Geoff Paul, chief executive of Blyth Valley Borough Council, said: “We are extremely disappointed with the decision. The provision of new, affordable housing is an essential requirement in Blyth Valley and we have a duty to enable affordable homes to be made available for the many thousands of families on our waiting lists.

“We believe that there are strong grounds for appeal and the council will be considering its position over the coming days.”