EG RESI SUMMIT: Planning authorities should consider a developer’s track record in design when granting permission for high-density schemes, said Killian Hurley, chief executive of Mount Anvil at EG’s London Residential Summit this morning.
“Local authorities and planners should give a greater preference to developers that are known to deliver well-designed, good-quality homes. Those that have a proven track record should be able to deliver higher-density housing” he said.
Speaking at a panel session on planning issues that residential developers must consider, Hurley added: “[Planners should] go back and see what [developers have] done over the past three, four or five years. Judge us on what we’ve already delivered. Local authorities should also be able to tell developers that have not submitted quality designs to go back to the drawing board.”
Panellists also debated issues surrounding affordable housing. Emma Cariaga, head of operations at British Land, said: “Most affordable housing needs a subsidy, and we simply don’t have that anymore. The impediment to more affordable housing is economics and a lack of subsidy.”
Greater diversity of products
In order for affordable housing to exist, she said, a greater diversity of affordable housing products needs to exist, in order to limit the amount of subsidy required. “You can’t get social rent, but you can get intermediate housing and other forms of affordable rent,” she said.
Commentators from the audience claimed that much affordable housing was actually not affordable. Panellists agreed that land values were simply too high for much affordable housing to be viable.
Hurley said: “We need political commitment regarding land values in London. The mindset needs to shift if we are to deliver the affordable homes we need.”
Jennie Daly, group operations firector at Taylor Wimpey, said: “Politicians react to what they hear.”
She said it was vital that developers engaged with local communities at an early stage, adding: “Resistance to schemes from communities is often the result of a lack of investment in infrastructure, roads, schools, health care, etc.”
The pace of housing development should be broadly the same as the pace of investment in infrastructure, she said.
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