One of the landmark projects of Sefton Council’s housing company could generate a £500k loss.
The precarious state of the project at Buckley Hill in Netherton was revealed in an application submitted by Sandway Homes to Sefton Council to vary planning permission at the site.
Council-owned company Sandway Homes previously asked Sefton Council for permission to build 69 homes on the former Z blocks site to the east of Buckley Hill Lane in July 2021.
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A month later, the company requested a change to the permission to reduce the number of homes to 63, with amendment to design and layout being submitted and approved in November and then again in July 2022.
Sefton Council had lauded the scheme an “historic moment” for the borough as an agreement was put in place for the council to acquire one of the apartment blocks to be built, comprising nine flats – effectively creating the “first new council homes in 15 years.”
Further homes at the site were also to be earmarked for “affordable housing” with this being secured by a condition of the planning permission.
However, Sandway Homes asked Sefton Council in September to remove this condition because “the site cannot viably secure the affordable homes and that external funding would be necessary.”
According to planning documents, a Sefton Council viability consultant has confirmed the scheme is teetering on the edge of viability.
With just over £1m of grant funding and 11 affordable homes and no developer contributions, the scheme would be “marginally viable” according to the report.
With no grant money, the scheme would make a £500k loss - even if all units at the site were disposed of at market rate.
The report stated that a viability assessment found: “If the grant monies were not available, this would adversely affect the scheme’s viability and would generate a financial loss of around £500,000 even with 100% market units and no affordable homes” adding “grant funding is crucial to the scheme’s delivery.”
A report submitted to the council said Homes England grant funding could only be pursued if the affordable housing condition was removed – as this is viewed in the eyes of Homes England as a form of developer contribution – which precludes access to the grant.
The Buckley Hill scheme was mentioned earlier this month in a business plan update for Sandway Homes – with delays on the site of around 12 months.
The delay had been put down at least in part to “an exceptionally long lead in” for services to be moved – as well as changes in combined authority funding requirements, tweaks to the design and problems with contractor costs.
The application to vary to the planning condition was referred by the head of planning to the council’s planning committee, which will meet this coming Wednesday, December 14 at Bootle Town Hall to decide whether or not to grant the request.
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