Council To Force Viability Assessments Publication

House builders that claim they cannot meet a council’s affordable homes quota for new developments could be forced to make their details of financial viability assessments public. Southwark Council says it has devised the new policy in response to public concern over how affordable provision in new schemes is negotiated, with assessments usually kept secret due to claims of commercial sensitivity. Under the proposed new supplementary planning document, the viability assessment would be kept out of the public domain if a developer agrees to meet Southwark Council’s requirement of 35% affordable homes in any new development. But if the developer argues it is not viable to meet the target, a summary of the reasons will be published for public scrutiny. Read more on Southwark Council’s website.

Royal Estates Fail To Meet Targets for Affordable Homes

Two of Britain's largest landowning bodies, which generate millions of pounds a year for the Queen and Prince Charles, are regularly failing to meet affordable housing targets when building new homes on their land. Planning documents reveal that both the Crown Estate and the Duchy of Cornwall are persuading councils to allow them to cut their affordable housing quotas on the grounds that meeting them would be too expensive. An investigation examined the two landowners' plans to build 4,299 homes in 31 schemes. 14 developments failed to meet local targets, resulting in at least 213 fewer affordable homes being built. 10 of the 19 largest Crown Estate developments have not or will not meet affordable housing targets. In its most recent financial results, the Crown Estate said it had "outperformed the market" and achieved a £252.6m surplus, 15% of which goes to the Queen. The rest goes to the Treasury. Read more on the Bureau of Investigative Journalism website.