Planning permission for this development was allowed on appeal by the Secretary of State in December 2012. At the Inquiry the applicants submitted an Agreement under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 which proposed in support of their proposal the provision of 21 affordable homes of which 15 were to be for social rent and 6 for shared ownership. The Inspector in reaching his decision to allow the appeal clearly acknowledged the benefits of allowing a development that would provide strategically sustainable new market and affordable homes in Shepshed and that this would outweigh the harm that the development would cause to the character of the countryside and the measure of car borne travel to access local facilities. In these circumstances it is difficult to accept that in the period between 2012 and 2014 circumstances have changed sufficiently and the housing market deteriorated to the extent that the viability of the scheme now relies on a much reduced affordable housing provision. The District Valuer has assessed the viability of the scheme as submitted by the applicants and concludes that a scheme which comprises 70 housing units incorporating a policy compliant affordable housing provision would be viable. For the above reasons the Local Planning Authority does not agree with the developers revised proposals for affordable housing on this site.

Note to Applicant (i)The key difference between the applicants assessment of the viability of the proposed scheme and that of the District Valuer are; (i) the unit values of the market and affordable housing properties, and (ii) the finance costs due to the difference in the length of the development programme considered reasonable by the applicants and the District Valuer. (ii)In addition it is nearly a year since Registered Providers were asked to price the scheme since when values have increased slightly. Furthermore a number of Registered Providers at that time were reluctant to commit to new delivery before April 2015. As it is unlikely that any affordable housing will complete until after April 2015 it is considered that the applicants case seems to partially rest on a single, out of date valuation. (iii)If the Local Planning Authority are to accept some kind of flexible contribution, the revision mechanism should be as early as possible in the scheme to allow any additional provision on site, rather than as an off site financial contribution. The scheme proposed would provide that additional contributions will only be known so late in the day that there won’t be time to contract with a provider and so will involve the Local Planning Authority have to accept a commuted sum. In the circumstances if the applicant is able to provide further evidence to support their case, it is considered that the matter could be reviewed.