Affordable units ‘crucial’ to approval of 100-home plan
Town council strongly objects to Bewley’s application to ‘tear up agreement’
DEVELOPERS behind Hungerford’s controversial 100 new homes project have defended their claim that providing a proportion of ‘affordable’ units is financially unviable.
The agreement was for 40 such homes, comprising 28 rented and 12 offered as shared ownership.
Critics of the application to tear up the condition, which was a proviso of the planning permission, have asked why this had not been glaringly obvious from the outset.
One local resident, Tim Bevan, has written to planners stating: “When the outline planning permission was granted, the committee made their decision based upon that [affordable homes] requirement. “It was a crucial part of the application.
“If the proposed amendment is granted, it will undermine the whole basis on which the outline planning permission was granted in the first place – it will ride a coach and horses through the planning process.”
Another, Kevin Kenchinton, warned: “Acceptance would bring the planning process into disrepute.”
Twenty-two other residents had also lodged formal objections as this newspaper went to press.
West Berkshire Council planners have demanded a report into the issue be undertaken before they make their recommendation to the council’s western area planning committee, which will make the final ruling.
But at a full virtual meeting of Hungerford Town Council earlier this month, doubt was cast on the potential impartiality of any such report after it was revealed the developer would be paying for it.
Now the land and planning director at Bewley Homes, Angus Cook, has issued a statement to clarify the situation.
Mr Cook said: “The 100-home development, off Salisbury Road in Hungerford, is a development that will be delivered by local housebuilder Bewley Homes in partnership with Wates Developments.
“The site was allocated in May 2017 and outline planning permission was granted in November that year.
“That’s two years ago when the economic and financial outlook were very different.
“We believe the site has no longer become viable, which is why we have asked for the viability of the scheme to be reassessed.”
Addressing the issue of impartiality of the report being swayed because of who was paying for it, he added: “It is common practice for local authorities to instruct independent viability reports by a third party and for the developer, in this case Bewley Homes, to pay for it, rather than leave the burden of the costs to West Berkshire Council.
“In this way the report remains completely impartial and independent and other local authorities around the country now adopt this approach.
“There are a number of outcomes from the independent viability assessment, one of which is a change to the tenure of the affordable homes.”
Hungerford Town Council has told planners its members “strongly object” to this application.
Town councillors stated: “The percentage of social rent dwellings was a crucial part of the original approved planning application... the reduction in number of social rent dwellings will have a negative impact on local residents and local house rental prices.
“This application undermines [West Berkshire Council’s] own local plan which states there should be 40 per cent affordable housing on greenfield sites.”
In addition, they have claimed, notwithstanding Mr Cook’s subsequent assurance of the pending report’s “complete impartiality” that it was not undertaken by a truly independent consultant.
The town council concluded: “[We] urge West Berkshire Council to request a non-biased, independent viability appraisal.”
The next meeting of the western area planning committee, the last in 2020, is scheduled for Wednesday, December 16.
However no agenda has yet been published.
Meanwhile, the application to vary the condition can be viewed, and commented on, by visiting the planning section of the district council’s website and using the ref 20/01023/MDOPO.