Council incentivising developers to increase affordable homes in Bristol

Bristol’s housing crisis is perhaps the most pressing concern for a city facing ever escalating prices and a chronic shortage of affordable homes.

A commitment to build 2,000 houses by 2020 was a stand-out manifesto pledge for mayor Marvin Rees, who now says he is set to exceed that target by some 800.

Yet as the urgent need for more accommodation makes Bristol a developers’ dream, the number of affordable homes being built is dropping, with the overall market proportion decreasing from 25 per cent of properties in 2009/10 to just 12 per cent in 2015/16.

This falls well short of the council’s requirement of 40 per cent affordable and has prompted cabinet members to approve a new pilot to incentivise developers into upping their affordable offering.

Paul Smith says the ‘carrot’ approach might encourage developers to increase their affordable housing provision

Proposing the guidance that will apply in the inner west and east parts of the city, Paul Smith, the council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “I’m really worried that if we don’t tackle the housing crisis in Bristol now, we will end up with the problems that London has in 10 years.

“The issue is how we incentivise greater delivery of affordable housing. We want to see if by introducing carrots, we can increase affordable housing.”

The measure that will be trialled in parts of Bristol introduces a threshold approach to provide developers with a fast track route through planning if they are prepared to offer at least 20 per cent affordable housing on sites in the inner west and east zones.

This is on the on the basis that developers must start work on schemes within 18 months of planning consent.

Acorn says more radical action is needed

Housing campaign group Acorn called the measure a step in the right direction in a statement to cabinet on Tuesday, but argued it does not go far enough in addressing the need to build affordable homes.

“The proposal needs to be more radical, so that we can show the rest of the country that Bristol is leading the way in setting an agenda where affordable housing is a top priority in reality and not just rhetoric,” said the group.

The pilot is being rolled out as an interim measure until the Bristol Local Plan, which will set out a planning blueprint for the city, is adopted.

Smith continued: “There’s an urgent need for more affordable housing in Bristol so we’ve been looking closely at what other areas facing similar problems are doing.

“Our research has shown that by temporarily reducing the thresholds and offering incentives to developers, we can boost the number of affordable homes that get built.

“We want to see the 40 per cent targets being met, but it always takes a long time to introduce new policies that offer a radical approach to housing delivery and because of that we are looking at ways we can make immediate changes.

“Before the Local Plan is adopted, we have an opportunity to accelerate the supply of affordable homes from current low levels.”

Having initially raised concerns that the council’s affordable housing policy was in danger of being watered down, Clive Stevens, Green councillor for Clifton Down, was broadly supportive of the amended version of the measure approved by cabinet.

The new guidance also introduces greater flexibility in applying the council’s tenure requirements for affordable housing provided certain conditions are met.

Read more: ‘Bristol’s housing crisis is real and small developers can play a valuable part in combatting it’