You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Sadiq Khan insists on 50% affordable for public land
Developments on public land must provide 50% affordable housing to benefit from faster planning permission, Sadiq Khan has announced.
In his new supplementary planning guidance, the mayor of London set out his approach to public land, which will fast-track applications to develop on public land if they include 50% affordable housing.
If such applications do not include 50% affordable housing, viability information will be subject to intensive scrutiny by an in-house team of viability experts.
This is a stronger approach than the draft version of this document released in November last year, which outlined a similar approach for all schemes based on a threshold of 35%. That threshold – which has come into force today – will now apply only to development on private land.
READ MORE
Sir Steve Bullock, executive member for housing at London Councils, said: “Lack of affordable homes remains a huge challenge for London and therefore we welcome the mayor’s plans to provide new homes and particularly affordable homes for Londoners.
“Boroughs are a key part of tackling this issue, not only through direct building, but also in helping identify public land and working with developers to facilitate new homes.”
The mayor’s approach to making financial viability assessments public also came into force today. As proposed in last year’s draft, assessments for projects falling below the threshold will be made public.
Such assessments are often used by developers to change a previously agreed level of affordable housing. Recently, the mayor lambasted Wandsworth Council for accepting a viability assessment that reduced the proportion of affordable housing to be provided on the Battersea Power Station development to 9%.
Mr Khan said: “I’m determined to ensure we don’t have a repeat of what happened at Battersea Power Station, with developers unacceptably reducing the number of affordable homes on site after planning permission was granted. That’s why I’ve written to all councils offering City Hall’s expertise in robustly scrutinising applications to ensure we see the new and genuinely affordable homes built that Londoners desperately need.”
The process for developments that fall below the affordable housing thresholds will include two review stages. At both of these points, the council or the mayor can demand an increase in the percentage of affordable housing or a financial contribution towards affordable housing elsewhere.
The mayor also expects developers to propose at least 30% for low-cost rent, whether social or affordable. Where developers choose affordable, however, the mayor has said he will expect the level to be “significantly less than 80% market rent”.
