North Yorkshire Council has rejected a Scarborough housing plan for ‘manipulating’ affordable housing threshold requirements.
The Council has blocked a plan to build nine residential dwellings in Burniston, near Scarborough, over what the council said was an attempt to circumvent affordable housing requirements.
The proposed outline planning permission for the site, on land Off Wandales Road, would have seen all matters reserved – or set to be decided later – except for access.
No objections were raised by Burniston Parish Council, the Highway Authority, or the council’s housing services.
However, four members of the public opposed the plan citing concerns about “urbanisation of the countryside” as well as stating that it would “exceed local infrastructure, specifically education and health”.
The number of affordable units proposed was also found to be “just short of the affordable housing requirement threshold,” according to council planners.
Because the site area is less than 0.5 hectares in size, a requirement for affordable housing contributions on sites larger than this was not applicable.
It was also noted that the site area had been “significantly reduced” from an earlier application.
They also said that an affordable housing contribution “could reasonably be made”.
According to the report, the applicant’s agent argued that the proposal reflects “the maximum developable area” with regard to flood risk and drainage requirements.
However, officers said there was “nothing to suggest that the remainder of the land within the development limits could not be built out due to flood risk or drainage considerations”.
They added that the site area had been “clearly restricted in order to circumvent affordable housing policy requirements”.
Planners acknowledged that the applicant was “seeking a target market” and that there could be “viability concerns” if affordable housing policy requirements were triggered.
However, they also noted that the requirement is for 30 per cent affordable housing and that the council “would be open” to the applicant advancing a viability case with evidence, which would have been considered “in the normal way”.
The council concluded that the “site area and proposed number of dwellings have been manipulated to fall below the threshold requiring affordable housing contributions”.
The proposal was refused on Friday, August 23.
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