A furious row over affordable housing targets has erupted between Brighton & Hove council and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
The council, which has a four-year waiting list for housing, says the ODPM's planning inspectorate has undermined the council's efforts to make 40% of all new housing affordable by upholding appeals against the rejection of schemes with less than that.

The 40% target is part of Brighton & Hove's new local plan, set to be ratified early next year. But city planners are already rejecting schemes that do not comply.

The ODPM has upheld the appeals of five developers whose schemes were rejected under the 40% rule because it does not appear in the existing regulations.

These schemes, had they complied with the rule, would have yielded 25 affordable homes.

A spokesman for the planning inspectorate said: "The cases would have been looked at individually and a decision made in the context of national planning guidance to ensure the supply of affordable homes through the planning system."

But councillor Jack Hazelgrove, chair of the housing subcommittee, said: "[This situation] is very serious, in view of the dire housing need we have in the city.

"We are doing all we can and it is disappointing that the planning inspectors are giving so much weight to the old plans.

"As we get closer to adopting the new plan, the old ones should have less weight, but they don't really seem to have taken that on board."

Source

Housing Today