Dozens of ‘affordable’ new flats are to be built on a former car wash site in Stockport after planners gave the go-ahead for the scheme. It means a pair of adjoining blocks housing 73 apartments will go up on disused land at King Street West - part of the much-vaunted ‘Town Centre West’ regeneration zone, or ‘MDC’.
Brought forward by housing association Great Places the ‘high quality’ scheme appears to be 100pc affordable - with all the one and two-bedroom homes available through the government-backed Rent to Buy scheme. However, after five years tenants have the opportunity to purchase their apartment outright, or can increase their share in it over a longer period of time via a process known as ‘staircasing’.
Coun Andy Sorton - who has previously raised concerns over affordable housing ‘disappearing’ from the site - again brought up the issue at a meeting of the council’s planning committee. While he said this was not grounds for rejecting the application - as 100pc affordable housing goes well beyond council requirements - he stressed the need for long-term affordable housing in the town centre.
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“When is affordable housing not affordable housing?” he said. “Well, after five years.”
Coun Sorton accepted this was not the fault of Great Places, but a condition of the funding it had secured from Homes England for the development. “It’s a minimum of five years affordable housing, it doesn’t last into perpetuity,” he said.
“The affordability then lies in the hands of the person that’s buying it. Yes, the funding will be recycled but land is at a premium, and that’s the difference. You can recycle funding but you can’t recycle land. And bearing in mind this the town centre MDC, there’s not a finite level of land to put affordable housing on.”
Great Places says the apartments would offer ‘desirable accommodation’, featuring ‘contemporary open plan living spaces with ample natural daylighting’. Each home would have ‘high quality amenity space in the form of private balconies’, while there would also be shared roof terraces.
However, Coun Louise Heywood said she was ‘disappointed’ it had not been financially ‘viable’ to provide contributions towards open space and play areas for residents and their children.
“The particular area that it’s in is right next to the largest tower block in that ward,” she said. “And it is right next to a park that doesn’t get a lot of attention and is run down and does need investment."
While the council has accepted that financial contributions would make the scheme ‘unviable’ at this point, it can ‘claw back’ the cash if it proves more profitable than expected.
Coun Heywood urged bosses not to take their eye off the ball in this respect.
“If you are looking five years into the future and you have a well established higher population in that area, in these blocks, we need to be really vigilant in being sure that we do get that clawback and we do invest that back in that park,” she added.
“In five years time, it’s going to be more run down by then and people already need it and we are putting more people there. I think we need to make sure we don’t let that slide.”
Great Places describes the location - bounded by Gradwell Street and Bann Street- as ‘highly sustainable’ due to its proximity to the town’s bus and railway stations. The plans also feature a 16-space car park - accessed via Bann Street - including seven disabled bays and three electric vehicle charging points. The proposals also include ‘100pc secure cycle storage provision’.
Applicants and objectors are not invited to speak at meetings of the council’s planning committee.
However, Paul Taylor - development manager for Great Places - told a recent meeting of the Central area committee that it was an important project that would ‘deliver a high quality housing scheme on this vacant brownfield site’.
He also told councillors the development would represent a capital investment of over £15m in the ongoing regeneration of the Stockport Town Centre West area and support the council’s wider strategy on town centre living.
The council’s planning committee unanimously agreed to grant permission for the scheme.
It met at the town hall on Thursday (March 23).
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