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Search the Public Notice PortalA housebuilding firm says they need to drop the affordable housing part of a stalled 15-home estate in a Herefordshire village to make it work financially.
Gloucestershire-based Bell Homes originally sought outline permission in 2018 for the scheme in a field south of the A645 through Burley Gate, between Hereford and Bromyard.
It was eventually approved in October 2023, subject to a list of 24 conditions including that land for a community shop in the northwest of the site must be readied and gifted to the parish council or other community group.
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A so-called section 106 planning gain deal between the council and Bell Homes required five of the homes to be classed as affordable, with a further £103,106 contribution to be made to local services and infrastructure.
The layout of the scheme was then amended two years ago.
Around the same time, Heras fencing was erected around the site, along with Bell Homes flags, now starting to look weathered.
In July of this year, Bell Homes’ agent Ed Thomas wrote to county planners to say that a financial viability assessment showed that the only scenario for the scheme to work “is where AH (affordable housing) and financial contributions are removed”.
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This follows “an unprecedented increase in construction costs” in recent years, as well as “abnormal costs” relating to the project, he wrote.
According to the assessment, by property consultants Alder King, even with these obligations removed, the developer would still have to accept a lower profit of 15.6 per cent.
“This represents the viability tipping point for the proposed development,” it concludes.
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The council had set itself the target date of September 30 to decide on the firm’s bid.
Meanwhile, Ocle Pychard Parish Council has withdrawn its separate application to approve the plans for the community shop, which was also to include a café.
A spokesperson for the parish council said the move was unrelated to Bell Homes’ latest move, and that a new application for the building “will be in shortly”.
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