Councils that want ‘affordable housing’ only force prices up
‘soCIAL inclusion’ looks more like gerrymandering with its demands of affordable housing in expensive areas and its attempts to block ‘middle-class gentrification’. Now, councils are using a desire for affordable housing to block housing schemes, restricting demand and causing prices to rise, or adding excessive demands for money that make the developments unaffordable. A planning application was submitted to Islington council to reinstate two flats above a shop with no external alterations — an application which Government policy says councils can’t refuse without good reason. A fee of £770 was paid to Islington to undertake this application. The council responded by requesting a ‘small sites contribution’ of £100,000, which it claimed would go towards affordable housing. It was pointed out that the NppF (National planning policy Framework, the law governing planning) says councils can’t request contributions for developments of fewer than ten units, but Islington said it was fully aware of the policy. As a property consultant, I was then asked either to confirm that the client was willing to pay £100,000 or fill in a viability assessment form and agree to pay the council surveyor £1,500 to assess how much the client should pay the council (on top of the £770 planning fee). The council said it would add a Community Infrastructure Levy (about £20,000) before granting permission. This is at the heart of the housing problem. By adding excessive charges and restricting the availability of potential accommodation, councils such as Islington force prices to rise, and then complain that accommodation is ‘unaffordable’. Jeremy Corbyn is Mp for Islington North. Is this the kind of behaviour we can expect all over the country if his party ever forms a government?
ALEX KING, Haywards Heath, W. Sussex.