Sir,

Close loophole that is enbling developers to evade affordable-homes obligation

In his Budget speech, the Chancellor Phillip Hammond stated that the Government would ensure that councils in high demand areas permit more homes for ‘affordable renters’, presumably social housing.

Unfortunately, he did not acknowledge that developers had and were using the NPPF and ‘viability test’ to reduce their obligation to provide affordable homes, including ‘affordable renters’. This has resulted in the undersupply of affordable/social housing; see for example: Shelter’s: ‘Slipping through the loophole. How viability assessments are reducing affordable housing supply in England’, November 2017, and the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE)report ‘Homes for All’, May 2016.

This omission is cause for particular concern in Horsham District, where the viability test has been employed by a developer to override the Council’s Inspector-approved policy requirement for 35% affordable housing, in respect of the North of Horsham development. Consequently, of the 2750 houses approved for this site, 495 (18%) are to be affordable, which is a significant shortfall against the 963 (35%) that should be delivered by the development.

If the Government is truly committed to increasing the supply of affordable renters, it will close the loophole that is enabling developers to evade the obligation to provide affordable renters.

Yours faithfully,

Dr R F Smith
Trustee CPRE Sussex