Affordable homes at Newport site to be reduced

The amount of affordable houses at Persimmon Homes West Midlands's Wellington Road development was dropped from 35 per cent to 20 per cent after councillors on Telford & Wrekin Council's planning committee gave the changes to the already approved application the green light at a meeting last night.

In return, the housing development company will give £2.75 million to Telford & Wrekin Council to be spent on building the rest of the previously promised houses elsewhere in the town.

But it was the third in a string of applications at the meeting in which developers had reduced the number of affordable homes on their respective sites from already agreed numbers, frustrating councillors.

Councillor Kevin Guy said: "This issue bugs me a bit. We need more affordable homes in our area. Our hands are tied as a plans board with national policy. The Conservatives on this board want to stop moaning at the officers here and lobby their Government to change the rules that are affecting people nationally. The legislation needs to be changed."

Councillor Chris Turley, the committee's vice-chairman, said: "Once again affordable housing dropping in numbers is not good news. However, this reduction is compensated with the offer of a £2.75 million financial contribution which must be ring fenced and used towards future affordable housing within Newport. It still provides 57 affordable housing units, which I am happy with."

Councillor Adrian Meredith added: "We cannot just chop and change all the time."

Meanwhile, Councillor Jayne Greenaway added: "What justification is there for developers and local authority to ask for a modification. It has been cited as a reason for the approval of the outline in the first place. If equal funds are available for a new site, why not just deliver it on this site. If off site contributions are set it must be robustly justified. Can someone robustly justify this?"

Council planning specialist Michael Barker told the meeting: "The Government expects and requires local authorities to negotiate with developers. Does the change reflect a beneficial and satisfactory position from the local authority's point of view?

"When you take together the on site and off site contribution adding this together you achieve a level of affordability and housing delivered consistent with the 35 per cent applied originally when the consent was approved. The benefit that it offers to the local authority and the council is that off site contributions can use to create affordable housing on a previously unused brown field site within Newport."

The other applications which forced councillors to discuss the level of affordable housing included an outline application to build up to 215 houses at land north of Audley Avenue in Newport, which was approved in 2012 but has yet to get off the ground as Telford & Wrekin and applicants St Modwen had previously failed to agree on section 106 agreements.

The approved package last night will see 17 per cent of the houses be affordable homes and cash towards highway works, education infrastructure and sports provision.

Councillors also approved an application to build 111 homes and a 108-unit care home for retired people at the corner of Stafford Road and the A41 in Newport.

Provision for affordable housing has been reduced by Taylor Wimpey North Midlands from 34 per cent to 16 per cent since outline permission was granted.