Fresh moves to close affordable housing loophole

A CAMPAIGN by two influential organisations was launched on Saturday that makes new calls to the government to close a planning loophole that allows developers to dodge building affordable homes.

Homeless charity Shelter and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) have published the findings of their own research that shows just half the amount of affordable homes that should be built are being built.

Current planning laws allow developers to use so-called viability assessments to argue that building affordable homes could reduce their profits to below around 20 per cent, which gives them the right to cut their affordable housing quota.

The two analysed 154 planning permissions across eight local planning authorities in rural areas in eight different English regions and found that found that on schemes where viability assessments were used 1,966 of the homes were meant to be affordable, according to the housing policies set by the local authority.

But as a result of the viability assessments, only 1,028 of these homes were subsequently affordable - a loss of 938 affordable homes that could have been built.

The two are calling on the government to use their current review of planning rules to stop developers from using this loophole to wriggle out of providing the affordable homes that communities desperately need.

The same call has already been made by south Warwickshire Labour MP Matt Western and the Conservative leader of Stratford-on-Avon District Council, Cllr Chris Saint.

Stratford District Council insists on 35 per cent affordable housing on developments, while Warwick District Council demands 40 per cent in to their own planning policies.

The government has been reviewing planning laws and Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, is expected to outline reforms to national planning rules in a speech on Monday.

Shelter and the CPRE say developers are over-paying for land and recouping the costs by squeezing the affordable housing commitments.

Polly Neate, Shelter chief executive, said: “With this new research, we can see for the first time the true scale of our housing crisis, it’s not just blighting cities but our towns and villages too.

“Developers are using this legal loophole to overpower local communities and are refusing to build the affordable homes they need.

“The government should use their current review of planning laws to close this loophole and give local communities the homes they really need. This process must act as a critical turning point in the government’s attitude towards affordable housing in this country.”

Crispin Truman, CPRE chief executive, said: “The lack of affordable housing in rural areas is often overlooked as an urban-only problem. It cannot be ignored any longer. Too much of our countryside is eaten up for developments that boost profits, but don’t meet local housing needs because of the ‘viability’ loopholes.

“CPRE is calling for urgent action from the Government to close these loopholes to increase the delivery of affordable housing, otherwise rural communities risk losing the young families and workers which they need to be sustainable.

"We must ensure that we are building housing that people need and can afford across England, including the countryside.”