Agenda item

To consider proposed amendments to the Section 106 agreement associated with application 14/00777/OUT that have been requested by the applicant.

Reference:	14/00777/OUT
Location:	Land behind 38- 48 High Street Waltham on the Wolds
Proposal:	Request to vary Section 106 Agreement in relation to Planning Permission 14/00777/OUT

 

(Councillor Browne here left the meeting due to his personal and pecuniary interest declared at Minute PL97.)

 

The Assistant Director of Planning and Delivery addressed the Committee and provided a summary of the report which focussed on the requests from Platform HG to vary the existing s106 relating to the site in order to remove a limit of 6 affordable homes, adjust the terms of the provisions of the shared ownership dwellings to allow wider occupation and adjust the mortgagee provisions within the agreement.

 

Pursuant to Chapter 2, Part 9, Paragraphs 2.8-2.28 of the Council’s Constitution in relation to  public speaking at Planning Committee, the Chair allowed the following to give a 3 minute presentation:

 

·      Councillor Geoff Hulland of Waltham on the Wolds Parish Council

 

·      Val White

 

·      Judith Wise of Platform HG, Applicant

     In response to Member questions, Mrs Wise confirmed that

·      she had not previously met with or discussed the scheme with Councillor Higgins

·      the company had not been aware of the specific affordable housing limit before purchasing the site and considered it rare that a maximum number be applied to such a scheme

 

The Assistant Director for Planning and Delivery explained that a S106 agreement could be amended in exceptional circumstances.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

·         Should there be any change to the original approval, it was noted that this would not affect the monetary contributions of the S106 agreement

·         The Council was committed to affordable housing generally including in rural areas but the tenures offered were limited and did not meet the nature of demand in the area at present

·         It was noted that Platform HG only offered affordable rented properties or shared ownership and some people wanted to own their own homes eventually through rent to buy or low cost housing and this site needed to consider other options for Members to consider changing the terms

·         It was important that the right type of affordable housing was available in the right locations

·         It was considered that affordable housing should be spread across the Borough particularly in the rural areas as it was the mixture of housing types that helped to make a richer community

·         A large affordable housing development could stigmatise an area

·         The recommendations were not subject to local plan policies as this was not a planning application

·         An issue was raised with affordable rented properties as villages had no control over how these were allocated and recent cases had shown that they could be rented to tenants who lived far away from the area even though such properties were needed for local people

·         It was felt that a local connection test could be applied in allocating affordable housing

 

Councillor Steadman proposed the recommendations in the report and Councillor Chandler seconded the motion.

 

RESOLVED

 

That:

 

(1)  the request for a Deed of Variation be declined and

 

(2)  the applicants be invited into further discussion with a view to achieving a mutually acceptable solution.

 

(Unanimous)

 

REASONS

 

The proposed tenure mix would result in delivery of affordable housing of a type for which there is limited local need or demand, and which has recently/currently being met by other developments in Waltham.

 

The ‘local connection’ criteria is considered to be an important component for the delivery of affordable housing and as such is enshrined within Development Plan policy and the adopted ‘Affordable Housing and Housing Mix SPD’ (July 2019). With the exception of the benefit of increasing the supply of affordable housing overall, it is considered that there are insufficient benefits to justify a departure from these policies.