THE COMMUNITY has vowed to fight on to ensure that Calstock secures affordable housing on a controversial development after a housebuilder’s attempt to reduce the number of affordable homes to zero was thrown out on appeal.

Parish councillor Cllr Alistair Tinto said ‘the community will fight on, definitely’ to ensure affordable homes do materialise at half-built Bridge View.

He was speaking after planning inspector Nick Davies ruled that developer Construction Partners must continue to build the 33 homes on the site on Church Lane according to the permission granted by Cornwall Council in December 2018.

Lawyers acting for Michael Wight, who runs Construction Partners, argued at the appeal held at Calstock Village Hall on November 29 the firm could no longer afford to build 15 homes – 45 % of the development – as affordable units.

The appeal by the developer over planning authority Cornwall Council’s refusal turned on a question of whether the developer’s proposal to add extras to some of the houses, including garages and PV panels, would make them unaffordable.

But a further card was played on the day of the appeal, when the developer submitted a Financial Viability Assessment on the part-built development, which stated they could not afford to build any of the affordable housing. A planning consultant acting for the developer, Robin Furby of Section 106 Management, said the 45% figure was ‘pure fantasy’.

However dismissing the appeal, and an application for costs against the council, Mr Davies said the developer must build the affordable homes as agreed in the original planning permission.

‘In the absence of clarity on the mix of the affordable housing, and evidence that a Registered Provider would be able to purchase and let the dwellings at affordable levels, I cannot safely conclude that the proposed alterations would not be harmful to the affordability and deliverability of the affordable housing,’ he said.

He dismissed the Financial Viability Assessment, stating that the developer could not afford to build any affordable homes on the site, stating that he could not fairly consider this as it had not been put to objectors and other consultees and was only revealed on the morning of the appeal.‘I have no robust evidence to conclude that it is justified, on viability grounds, for the development to proceed without the provision of any affordable housing,’ he said, calling on further negotiations to take place between the developer and Cornwall Council to ensure that affordable homes do get built.

‘In view of the abnormal costs associated with the development, which were evident from my site visit, I have considerable doubts that the approved level of affordable housing will prove deliverable.

‘Therefore, without co-operative discussions between the parties, there is a significant risk that the development will stall. I am mindful that the appellants signalled an intention to renegotiate.’

Cllr Tinto said the community would ‘fight on’ to ensure that affordable homes actually got built.

‘I think everyone in Calstock is very pleased with the result of the appeal but I don’t think this is the end of the story to be honest.

‘I note that the inspector said in view of the abnormal costs associated with the development he didn’t consider that the very high level of affordable housing would be deliverable.

‘That reminds me of the comment during the appeal from Mr Furby that 45% affordable housing would always be a fantasy, so I don’t think that we have heard the last about the number of affordables on this site.

‘We don’t want to lose the affordables, the whole reason that the site was supported by the parish council and by the planning department of Cornwall Council was that it had these affordable houses and the idea that we are not going to get those is very concerning, so the community will fight on, definitely.’

Adele Fulner, from developer Construction Partners, said: ‘Obviously we are very disappointed at the decision of the appeal but when we read it the inspector is suggesting that Cornwall Council should talk to us and we hope that that will be the case moving forward.

‘We will considering all the options over Christmas but we look to engaging with Cornwall Council, which is all we have ever wanted to do.’