HBF met with Officers from Test Valley Borough Council on the 28th July to discuss financial and market aspects of the deliverability of sites identified in the Council's urban capacity study.
The Council had moved the original capacity study work forward by undertaking design exercises for a number of identified sites. The discussions focussed around whether these exercises were feasible and realistic and deliverable by housebuilders.
The crux of the discussion was that there were acceptable design solutions which could be found for almost all sites. However, the key issue was that their implementation could not be assured because of the proposed changes to the Council's affordable housing policy which would render almost all of the sites identified in the study non-viable. A 30% affordable housing requirement on sites as small as 6 or 3 dwellings (depending in which part of the district the site was located) results in insufficient value in the site to assemble the land and deliver any design scheme including such excessive affordable housing requirements.
For further information on planning or urban capacity studies in Hampshire or Test Valley or this study in particular please contact Regional Planner Pete Errington at pete.errington@hbf.co.uk or 023 8067 1030