Plans to demolish a former social services building and police station to build 10 new “extremely affordable” homes have been accepted by the Isle of Wight Council.
The planning committee have voted for the council’s outline proposal to demolish a redundant Social Services Headquarters at 17 Fairlee Road in Newport. The building will be replaced with 2-bedroom apartments within a single structure.
County Hall’s planning development manager Russell Chick told the chamber the homes would be selling around the £100,000 mark and would be “extremely affordable” for local residents.
Before the committee meeting, planners recommended the application be conditionally approved subject to legal agreement for 100% on-site affordable housing and a Solent Special Protection Area Habitat Mitigation contribution for bird conservation. 9 councillors voted for this recommendation.
A report from council officers said:
“It is concluded that the minor negative impact of loss of the existing building would be outweighed by the substantial social benefits of (affordable) housing delivery as well as the moderate economic and environmental benefits.”
Economic benefits they identified include the homes likely being more energy efficient than older housing and buildings, helping reduce energy costs, and the proposal’s support for the construction industry. Those relating to the environment include opportunities for enhancing site landscaping and biodiversity.
The existing building at the site is at risk of becoming derelict and has ‘ongoing issues’ with dry rot, a statement submitted by the council said.
“This site is part of the approximately 60 hectares of Island brownfield land suitable for redevelopment. As this site is council owned, funding from the Brownfield Land Release Fund will be utilised to allow the council to clear this site.”
One member of the committee, the Empowering Islanders group’s Cllr Peter Spink, opposed the plans and said people in temporary accommodation would not benefit from them. He said he would be voting against after being told by Mr Chick that the proposal was for “discount market sale housing” rather than social rent housing.
Social rent housing means homes that are ‘truly affordable’ and owned by not-for-profit housing associations or local councils, according to the housing charity Shelter.
Cllr Spink said:
“Council-owned land gives us the best opportunity of taking people off the housing register. We get affordable housing through private development, not through council-owned land.
“I don’t know why then people voted to have a policy that council-owned land should be assessed for social housing…we have a policy now that we are choosing to ignore.”
In my view Housing Associations are a rip off. One asks for something to be repaired, they send out someone to have a look, then they do repair as cheaply as possible, often by non certified workers..which means that repair will have to be re-done, time and time again.
Another problem, if a disabled person has a private landlord, the disabled tenant can get grants to do the property up, ie : insulation, heating, solar panels…etc…. BUT if in a housing association, one cannot get these grants..
The root cause of the houding crisis throughout the UK was the sell off of local authority housing stock under Right to Buy. Addressing that problem in the long run requires local authorities to build decent housing which is let to local tenants at an affordable and controlled rent. When those tenants reach the stage in their lives where they wish to and can afford to enter into proprty ownership they can do so and release the rented property back to the council so it is available to other tenants who require “affordable” housing. Simply selling these flats off cheap will mean one of two things: either it involves some sort of co-ownership which always results in the buyer losing out in the long run or the owner buying at a subsidised price and making a fast back by selling as soon as they are able which does not leave the property available to anyone else who requires assistance.