A developer’s hopes of building five new affordable homes in an Eden village have, he says, ground to a bureaucratic halt — amid council claims there is no demand for them.
Representatives for the developers say that the housing register held by Westmorland and Furness Council is not keeping up with demand, because many people do not know it exists and so fail to register their needs.
Daniel Addis, a chartered town planner who submitted the scheme for houses at Winskill to the council, says that — despite council claims to the contrary — he has established that there is significant need for affordable houses to buy in this particular parish.
The plan for land, south east of Road Head Farm, is now more than two years old, with wrangling over nutrient neutrality rules also delaying any decision.
The project includes five three-bed affordable homes which would be “cross-subsidised” by four four-bedroom market-priced houses.
Westmorland and Furness Council described the plan as “building open market houses in the countryside” and said the application remained under officer consideration, with a decision expected in a “couple of months”.
A spokesman for the authority told the Herald: “The council has been working with the applicants to address a number of matters outstanding with the proposal to try and ensure it complies with adopted Local Plan policies.
“However, the council would prefer to see new housing built close to, or within existing communities to support local schools, pubs, shops and public transport.”
Consultee Hunsonby Parish Council has also lodged objections to the scheme, telling Westmorland and Furness planners: “The council consider that this development falls outside of the current village boundary/village line. It extends away from the village, creating a small development that breaks out unnaturally into currently viable agricultural land. The council feels it cannot be classed as infill, as it is clearly in a field on the edge of the village.
“The council also hopes that the planning department will seriously take into consideration the concerns of all the residents.”
Mr Addis said he had been told that council records show that, while there is demand from six people for affordable rental properties in Winskill, the council does not have sufficient evidence of the need for five affordable houses to buy. An email from an officer said demand was insufficient to justify going against planning policy. That has been challenged by Mr Addis, who says the developers have confirmed a local demand for as many as nine affordable houses to buy, but its figures are not being taken into account.
Mr Addis believes the council’s housing register is not keeping up with actual demand, because many will not know it exists.
He told the Herald: “I am constantly reading in the local and national press about the importance of housing and the housing emergency, so it seems totally at odds that when you try to deliver an innovative, and high-quality designed scheme by a leading local architect, that includes a majority of affordable housing, and the council responds and says ‘Sorry, we don’t need any affordable housing’.
“It is also further frustrating that the council is unwilling to look to the adjoining parishes when considering the need, as both Langwathby and Culgaith have significant need for affordable housing.
“What I would ask is that if anyone is in affordable housing need and is looking for a discounted sale affordable house in the parish of Hunsonby to contact the council’s housing team and get on that register.
“That seems to be the only way to demonstrate a need that would hopefully in turn allow this development to go ahead.”
The Westmorland and Furness Council plan states: “We need more, affordable, quality housing so that local families can build a life here and new people can be attracted to relocate.”
