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Sheffield Council Planners Quietly Removing Affordable Housing

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It seems over the last decade or so that houses around me are going from a normal 3 bedroom semi-detached house at reasonable and affordable prices to 6 bedroom brick monster structures which build over the side drive and extend half way along extensive gardens with dorma windows in the roof. These houses will no longer be affordable when they move and the council tax will be horrendous. Why has this been allowed?

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Maybe people need more bedrooms and can't afford to buy a larger house so extending is their only option? If planners don't allow extensions people might be trapped in unsuitable housing. Bit of a catch-22 I guess.

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If they're anything like the developments around Stannington you'll find that the developers include an amount of affordable housing in their initial planning applications. Subsequently, they reduce the number claiming that their profit margin is affected by changing market costs. In some instances, they claim that the site is unsuitable for affordable housing as there will be no amenities within walking distance and that public transport is such that new residents will need their own transport. Given that there is a high proportion of households in Sheffield with no access to private transport, somewhere in the region of 20% if I recall, then in rural areas this is a reasonable assumption.

 

However, there is a thing called a Community Infrastructure Levy which can be imposed which goes some way to address the issue but even this some developers manage to weasel out of. In some areas this CIL money can be used, by local authorities, to purchase existing properties to be used for social housing.

 

You ask why this is allowed. Under the coalition, planning law was changed giving more power to developers and land bankers and less to local authorities and local communities. That, coupled with austerity cutbacks meaning smaller planning departments has led to the current situation.

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1 hour ago, Hadron said:

which build over the side drive and extend half way along extensive gardens with dorma windows in the roof. .................Why has this been allowed?

I’m not sure what this has to do with the council as many of those things such as dormer windows no longer require any planning permission.

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38 minutes ago, Top Cats Hat said:

I’m not sure what this has to do with the council as many of those things such as dormer windows no longer require any planning permission.

I believe only dormer windows to the back come under permitted development - you'd still need permission for a dormer on the principle elevation. 

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18 hours ago, Hadron said:

It seems over the last decade or so that houses around me are going from a normal 3 bedroom semi-detached house at reasonable and affordable prices to 6 bedroom brick monster structures which build over the side drive and extend half way along extensive gardens with dorma windows in the roof. These houses will no longer be affordable when they move and the council tax will be horrendous. Why has this been allowed?

It bothers you that house prices might be rising in your area?

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4 hours ago, lil-minx92 said:

It bothers you that house prices might be rising in your area?

That is a bit like me saying "I like dogs" and you say "So you hate cats."  Ridiculous assumption. It is not the price of the houses, more the size of them and their effect on the 50 year ago planned infrastructure for the area.  Cars are parked on the roads because the drives have been built on and the bin lorry has to visit twice  because of the size of the larger bins people are having.  I would like to see the council tax price rising for these type houses and to pay for the services they use and not wait until the house is sold as these things will never be sold, they are too custom built. (by slave labour I may add)

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Houses are re-assessed for council tax purposes every so often so they may well move up the bands and pay more. 

 

With regards slave labour- there are places to report suspicions of modern day slavery.

 

Out of interest what area is it?

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