Last night’s Planning Committee (Monday, 8 December) agreed to remove affordable housing from a previously approved housing scheme at the former Rushmoor School in Bedford, despite a senior councillor describing the developer’s request as one that “beggars belief”.
Planning permission to convert the Shakespeare Road site into 55 flats was granted in March 2022, and the scheme originally included 14 affordable homes.
The application returned to the planning committee this week after the developer said it could no longer afford to deliver them.
Committee chair councillor Jonathan Abbott (Lib Dem, Clapham and Oakley) said: “To me, it beggars belief how we can go from 14 affordable units to nothing and the small sum,” referring to the developer’s request to replace the homes with a £56,000 commuted payment.
Planning officer Rachel Duncan said negotiations over parking for the affordable units delayed completion of the Section 106 agreement.
The Planning Advisory Service describes a Section 106 agreement as “a mechanism which makes a development proposal acceptable in planning terms that would not otherwise be acceptable”.
These legal agreements can include contributions towards infrastructure, local services and facilities, and affordable housing to offset the impact of development.
During the delay in negotiations, the registered housing provider withdrew and a replacement provider couldn’t be found.
A viability assessment was then submitted seeking to remove the affordable housing.
Viability consultant Jamie Purvis of BNP Paribas Real Estate, who reviewed the assessment on behalf of the council, said the scheme generated a surplus of “just over £42,500”, using a standard methodology and a developer profit margin of 17.5 per cent.
He said it was concluded that the applicant’s updated site value benchmark (£1.9m) “wasn’t unreasonable”.
Councillor Abbott said accepting the request was “very disappointing” and described the £56,000 payment as “a paltry sum”, but warned councillors risked being left with “an abandoned site” if the change was refused.
Councillor Abu Sultan (Labour, Cauldwell) said he would be voting against the proposal, saying he could not justify supporting the loss of affordable housing.
The committee approved the change by three votes to one, with one abstention.
by John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
