A planning application to build 14 new homes in Hadleigh has been withdrawn after the council would not support the developer’s attempts to exclude provision for affordable housing.

Birch Homes UK Ltd had argued that building affordable housing on the former commercial nursery on the A1071 Gallows Hill was not viable.

It cited a report which concluded that if the company took a “suitable developer’s profit” of 16% of the gross development value, equivalent to £964,499, the project would make a loss.

Planning permission was originally granted for the site, including three homes for affordable rent and one for shared ownership sale, by Babergh District Council in July 2020 when the land was owned by a different developer.

Residents had expressed fury over the new application’s exclusion of affordable housing.

One wrote in an objection to the application: “If this application is approved it makes a mockery of policy.

“It undermines faith in Babergh’s ability to exact any kind of control over development and sets a precedent for developers that all they need do is simply agree to build and then apply later on to remove them thus achieving permission where it would never have been granted in the balance.”

Another said: “I believe that previous determinations of viability are unsound and do not take account of the urgent local need in Hadleigh for more affordable housing to be provided.

“This is a material consideration of heavy weight which should lead to refusal of permission unless four affordable housing units are reinstated in the planning application.”

Source: Published through EADT By Becca Sproston 27.02.24