Bedford Borough Council’s efforts to deliver affordable housing remains a challenge despite its Local Plan 2030 requiring 30 per cent affordable housing on qualifying sites.
Last week’s Housing Committee (November 13) highlighted several factors contributing to the gap between expectation and actual completions.
Qualifying sites are those for 10 or more dwellings, and the committee heard that there are “several reasons” why the 30 per cent requirement is not achieved in any given year.
Tracey Barrett, team leader for housing policy, development and viability, said: “Some older schemes were approved with a lower than 30 per cent affordable housing requirements.
“Quite a lot of office conversions didn’t have an affordable housing requirement either.”
The report presented to the committee said there are ways in which the council can seek to maximise the delivery of affordable housing.
Including minimising the impact of viability appraisals and exploiting opportunities to deliver in excess of policy-compliant affordable housing.
Councillor Ben Foley (Green, Greyfriars) said: “The council is doing about as well as it can in the financial and legislative context that it’s facing.
“However for me the fundamental part of this is that… we have a definition of affordable that actually isn’t affordable for very many people.
“We can to some extent meet our targets for affordable by having a higher proportion of those which are actually out of the reach of people that are in the greatest need.
“And a lower proportion of those which are within reach, so my worry is that the statistical targets we’re using aren’t the ones which are going to help the local population.”
Ms Barrett said “affordable rent” is 80 per cent of the open market rent.
“You’re exactly right, 80 per cent of an awful lot is still very unaffordable,” she said.
“Planning policy says that affordable rent has to be accessible to those on housing benefits, and we use that to cap those rents at local housing allowance.
“Which is usually higher than social rates, but much lower than 80 per cent of affordable so that people who are on benefits can access them.
“Your point is exactly right, but I think we’ve got a way of dealing with it.”
The report showed that affordable housing completions as a percentage of total completions averaged 26.97 per cent between 2019/20 and 2023/24.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
