A developer has been allowed to give cash instead of creating affordable homes

A housing developer has been allowed to pay a large sum of money instead of building affordable homes on a new estate.

Fareham Borough Council’s planning committee unanimously approved plans by Imperial Homes to replace five affordable properties at its 14-home Church Road scheme in Warsash with a £452,285 contribution towards affordable housing elsewhere in the borough.

The development, between 75 and 77 Church Road, had been expected to include a mixture of affordable-rent, shared-ownership and wheelchair-accessible social-rent homes.

But Imperial Homes director Ben Olds said the firm had been unable to find a registered housing provider prepared to purchase and manage the small number of properties.

Cllr Joanne Burton, Conservative member for Sarisbury and Whiteley, raised concerns over the growing use of payments instead of on-site affordable housing.

She said: “My concern is we are seeing these applications come forward with affordable housing, and I recognise what we have heard about this one, but where will we be in the future if we are looking at housing provisions that are not large schemes?

“How do we manage this moving forward, so we don’t see a return of variation applications?

“Could the council not consider them, and take on the five houses as council houses?”

However, Cllr Burton was told this was “not what Fareham Housing does as a rule”.

Previously speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Olds said the company had contacted affordable-housing providers operating locally but had either received no reply or been told they were not interested.

Imperial Homes bought the site from another developer last year and has already reduced the size of the planned homes in an effort to make them more affordable for buyers.

The £452,285 payment will instead be used to help deliver affordable housing elsewhere, rather than within the Warsash development itself.

The decision means the 14 homes planned for the Church Road site can now be sold on the open market, while the council receives a contribution towards affordable housing provision.