'Totally unacceptable': Council firm's homes scheme includes no affordable housing
A housing company set up by Shropshire Council has won permission to demolish a former village school for housing – but none of the homes will be affordable.
Proposals for the derelict Hope School site near Worthen, put forward by Cornovii Developments, were narrowly approved by the council’s southern planning committee despite strong criticism of the lack of affordable housing.
The scheme will include three bungalows and six houses, aimed at meeting an identified need for more two- and three-bed properties in the area.
A new car park will also be created for the neighbouring village hall, as well as a village green.
Developments in the Chirbury and Worthen division normally require a 20 per cent affordable housing contribution, which in this case would equate to 1.8 homes – one to be provided on-site and a financial contribution in lieu of the 0.8.
But because the site is currently not in use, it qualifies for ‘vacant building credit’, which reduces the requirement to 0.6 affordable homes. As this is less than one, the developer is not required to make any of the homes affordable.
Speaking at the meeting, Chirbury and Worthen councillor Heather Kidd said: “The Hope School site is very, very important to the local community. It was a great blow to the area when the school closed.”
Councillor Kidd said two public meetings had been held over the future of the site and the community made clear that affordable housing was desperately needed.
She said: “We cannot find land in my division for anything affordable anywhere, so to take an affordable contribution from this site is totally, totally unacceptable.
“Cornovii know this. The last I was told we were down to three on site, we are now down to 0.6.
“I do support it, but I do not support the fact there is no affordable housing on the site because there is nowhere else to deliver it.”
Councillor Kidd’s concerns were echoed by some members of the committee.
Councillor Nigel Hartin said: “Cornovii is a company set up by the council, and to have it overriding what the community wants to be brought forward is, I think, something we should not be putting up with.”
However planning officers stressed that the proposed lack of affordable housing was in line with council policy on vacant sites, and therefore the application could not be refused on these grounds.
Councillor Robert Tindall said: “It doesn’t stack up morally. I think the public will be absolutely horrified that we have got the means to provide some extra affordable dwellings and we are not doing it.
“We may be wrong to refuse it but the policy is wrong. This is the strongest message that we must give.
“We struggle and struggle and struggle to provide affordable homes, particularly in south Shropshire, and we are missing a good opportunity here.”
Councillor Tindall proposed deferring the application to ask Cornovii to reconsider, but was told by officers that a deferral “is not going to change the planning policy”.
Councillor Richard Marshall said Cornovii, while wholly owned by the council, had to be treated in the same way as any other commercial developer.
The committee voted to grant permission with five votes for and four against.
The school closed in 2017, along with St Mary’s Primary in Westbury, in a controversial merger with Long Mountain Primary in Worthen. It has been vacant ever since and has been repeatedly targeted by vandals.
