A Sefton councillor appeared asleep as a vote was being taken on a key council housing project.
Cllr Michael Roche was spotted by our reporter at Bootle Town Hall last night as councillors met to discuss a project at the former Z Blocks site off Buckley Hill lane in Netherton.
The scheme, which was first given approval last year, is due to be carried out by council owned housing company Sandway Homes but has been beset by delays.
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In September, the company applied to remove a condition requiring affordable homes on the project, claiming this was in order to be able to deliver the affordable homes by accessing funding from Homes England.
As part of the application, a viability assessment was submitted which stated that the scheme could make a £500k loss if grant money was not secured, even if there were no affordable homes on the site.
With grant money, the scheme may realise a ‘marginal’ residual value but deliver on the council’s pledge to build more affordable homes, according to the report.
When councillors met to discuss the proposals at Bootle town hall last night, December 14, one planning officer said the “sole issue to consider is the viability of the scheme.”
The officer added: “The current application includes a viability reported submitted by the applicant which demonstrates the site cannot viably provide any affordable housing.”
Cllr James Hanson asked: “Even though the condition is to be removed is there any actual change in practice?”
The officer responded that the layout was as previously approved and any changes would need to come back to committee.
Cllr Paul Tweed said: “Just to clarify, so we’ve already agreed, the committee has already agreed this, so it’s now just a case of Sandways are going to get the affordable homes we wanted but are going to do it in a different way?”
Chief of planning, Derek McKenzie, said that while Sandway Homes has indicated Homes England will be providing grant funding in order to create the affordable homes desired if the condition is removed “that shouldn’t come into your consideration” as the committee was being asked to simply decide whether or not the scheme was viable with an affordable housing requirement.
Cllr David Irving said that if this resulted in a loss of affordable housing it would ba a “damn shame” and questioned £3m of debts the company owed and whether this was linked to the viability issues.
Chair of the committee Cllr Daren Veidman said that was beyond the scope of the meeting, following which Cllr Hanson moved to approve the recommendation, which was seconded by Cllr Paula Spencer.
At this point a vote was taken, with the majority of the planning committee in favour of the proposals. One councillor, however, neither voted nor abstained.
Cllr Roche was spotted instead with his eyes closed, reclining in apparent slumber, prompting some quizzical glances within the committee room as the condition to remove affordable housing from the Buckley Hill site was approved.
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