David Hide, Chair of Horsham Labour, wrote today to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham.This is a follow-up to our request to call in Horsham council's decision on affordable housing allocation in the development West of Horsham.
The full text is reproduced below.
Dear Secretary of State,
Request to Call In the decision by Horsham District Council on the West of Horsham Development.
Further to my letter of July 09, copy attached, requesting a call in of Horsham District Council’s decision relating to the development of Land West of Horsham by Berkeley Homes, the application for which I understand was due to be submitted at the end of November, I wish to add the following points in support of the request for this decision to be called in:
- A petition of over 600 signatures has been submitted to Horsham District Council supporting the following statement, ‘We the undersigned call upon Horsham District Council to meet its own commitment to deliver a minimum of 40% affordable housing on the development West of Horsham, to provide affordable homes for local residents.’
- The Audit Commission’s ‘One Place’ website, whilst rating Horsham District Council as performing ‘adequately overall’ draws particular attention to its performance on affordable housing. It states in relation to meeting the annual target for providing affordable homes that the Council is ‘not performing well enough and not improving fast enough.’ The Council’s decision to consider a reduction of the affordable housing element on this key site is further indication of its inability to perform in this key service area.
- The Council claims that the shortfall on this site can be made up on other key development sites being considered. There is little evidence of this being achieved as the Country Homes development proposal which makes up the other half of this strategic development site, shows no increase above, and may come in below, the 40% affordable housing element originally envisaged. The impact of this will be to reduce the average percentage across both developments to below the 40% which the council has clearly identified as being the requirement on these strategic sites. A further major development in the District will share nomination rights for the affordable element with Crawley Council, therefore diluting the provision of potential new homes available for residents of Horsham.
- The reason given by Berkeley Homes for the reduction in the number of affordable homes from the original proposal of 40% is the impact of economic recession and the resulting fall in house prices, they claim that this has an impact on the financial viability of the development. The housing market in Horsham is currently evidencing a return to prices close to those seen at the height of the market, we therefore feel that the reason given by Berkeley Homes is invalid.
We hope you will consider these points alongside those already raised as valid and reason to call in the Council’s proposal to consider a reduction to 20% in the affordable provision on this site.
Yours Sincerely,
David Hide
Chair, Horsham Labour Party