Agenda item - Deed of Variation to s106 legal agreement relating to BH2015/02917 - 121-123 Davigdor Road, Hove

Report of Executive Director, Economy, Environment and Culture

28.1      The Principal Planning Officer introduced the report which detailed a request to vary the Heads of Terms of a Section 106 agreement signed in connection with planning application BH2015/02917, in order for affordable housing to be secured by way of a commuted sum in conjunction with on-site provision of 15 shared ownership units of a mix of unit sizes.

28.2      In response to Councillor Page, Officers confirmed that the commuted sum would be used by the Council to provide affordable rented accommodation.

28.3      Councillor Miller asked if officers had considered using construction costs or house prices to index commuted sums as these rates were often higher than other measures of inflation and reflected that the sums were to be used to acquire or build new properties.

28.4      The Legal Adviser stated that the Construction Price Index had been used previously by the Council and officers could certainly investigate using it for indexing of commuted sums.

28.5      In response to Councillor Marsh, Officers stated that the Council’s adopted policy sought a mix of tenure in developments but recognised that there may be exceptional reasons why this could not be achieved. Where this was the case it was up to Officers and Members to balance the benefit of the scheme with the harm caused by not having on site provision of affordable units.

28.6      Councillor O’Quinn expressed concern that the affordable units provided as part ownership were going unsold as despite the discount they were still out of the price range of most residents. She felt that developers had to apply for variations because the affordable houses were still unaffordable and similar requests would continue coming to Committee until the underlying issue was addressed.

28.7      Councillor Littman stated that the city was in need of more affordable rented units and that it was regrettable that they would not be provided on site however he was pleased that there would still be affordable units provided on site.

28.8      Councillor Miller stated that it would be useful for the Committee to have sight of how the commuted sums were being spent and asked that more information be included in the next Section 106 Annual Update.

28.9      On a vote of 9 For with 1 abstention the Committee agreed to vary the s106 agreement. 

28.10   RESOLVED: That the Head of Term be varied to require the Developer to provide a financial contribution of £669,900 (plus indexation) towards off-site provision of affordable housing, and the provision of 15 shared ownership affordable units on-site comprising 5x 1-bedroom, 8x 2-bedroom and 2x 3-bed units.