Newly-elected mayor David Skaith is facing questions after pushing forward a move to award up to £1.23m of public money designated to create new housing on brownfield sites amid claims the scheme is on a mostly undeveloped site and would go ahead without the funding.
A meeting of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority saw schemes by Broadacres Housing Association at Blind Lane, Aiskew and Linton-on-Ouse and by Latimer Developments at Cocoa Gardens, York, awarded up to £4.3m from the Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF) and Mayoral Investment Fund.
The meeting was told the funding would lead to about 300 “additional” homes being delivered.
Mr Skaith said while the BHF would inevtiably create greater capacity in urban areas it was great news for the region that hundreds of homes were being developed.
He said his ambition was to create more homes that met the needs of rural communities, which represented “a huge challenge, but one we need to meet”.
City of York Council leader Councillor Claire Douglas added: “The ability to build on brownfield sites is hugely important because I think we are all well aware that is the first place we should be building in order to bring additional affordable housing into our region across York and every corner of North Yorkshire as well.”
While the Government defines brownfield land as developed land, that is, or was previously, occupied by a permanent structure, a council officer’s report into the Aiskew site ahead of the planning application for it being approved last year states the farm buildings only make up 40 per cent of the area of the application site.
Last autumn, councillors were told the Aiskew scheme’s viability gap had been bridged after a developer, Keepmoat, had agreed to drop its profit from that expected by a developer to one expected by a building contractor.
However, the officer’s report to the combined authority suggests a viability gap had re-emerged, stating the cost of demolishing a former piggery and hatchery on the site made it “uneconomic without additional financial support”.
The report stated the applicant had provided “little information as to why the preferred option is the best way forward”.
It added the Aiskew scheme for 88 affordable homes “would still be delivered as planned” without the £1.23m of mayoral funding, but with lower cost building materials or reduced energy efficiency technologies.
The Aiskew scheme would include 49 homes for social rent, offering rents at around 60 per cent of market values, and 39 homes for shared ownership, offering initial equity shares of as little as ten per cent.
After the meeting, North Yorkshire Council’s Green Party group leader, Councillor Kevin Foster said he was seeking confirmation from the combined authority that the Aiskew site was considered brownfield.
He added: “It is really is concerning that brownfield sites, and we have plenty of them in North Yorkshire, appear to have been overlooked in this case.
“Let’s have some totally brownfield sites and some council houses as that’s what will drive rents down. I’m still not sure what affordable housing is. If you can call £250,000 for a house I would disagree.”
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