Developers in London which fail to provide 35% affordable housing will be subject to review mechanisms and tough scrutiny from City Hall, under new planning guidance.
According to Inside Housing:
“The Greater London Authority (GLA) is due to publish draft Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) this morning, setting out long-trailed plans to allow developers to avoid viability assessments by meeting a threshold of 35% affordable housing.
But where these targets are not met, developers will be required to face two review mechanisms to assess the financial status of schemes as they are developed.
The GLA will also assemble an in-house team of viability experts to rigorously assess any schemes it calls in that do not meet the 35% threshold.
Viability assessments are the process developers undergo during the planning process in order to demonstrate how much affordable housing they can provide.”
They have become controversial in recent years, amid accusations that they make it too easy for developers to minimise or avoid affordable housing contributions.