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17
Dec 2020
North Yorkshire County Council has been accused of "getting out of" building affordable and social housing on two new housing developments in the Harrogate district.
The council's housing company, Brierley Homes, has recently been granted planning permission to build 19 homes in Bilton, Harrogate, and another 20 in Pateley Bridge.
As they are on brownfield sites, Harrogate Borough Council would normally ask for at least six affordable homes in each development, however, the Bilton development will have none and the Pateley scheme will have just four.
This is because Brierley Homes was able to use a Vacant Building Credit, which can be used to incentivise property developers to bring difficult sites back into use by removing the need to provide 30% affordable housing.
A Harrogate politician has suggested the local authority should be concentrating on providing more affordable homes in its developments, rather than speculating on the housing market.
Liberal Democrat county councillor Geoff Webber wrote to Brierley Homes chairman Karl Battersby to say he was "very disappointed" at both plans.
He called on NYCC to adopt a more "socially responsible" approach to housing in the future.
He said:
Harrogate Borough Council says 208 affordable homes need to be built in the district every year. Council case officer Kate Broadbank expressed “disappointed” in the lack of affordable housing in the Woodfield scheme.
Brierley Homes was established in 2017 by North Yorkshire County Council. All profits are used to support frontline council services in the county.
Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, defended the company's business model in a statement released to the Stray Ferret:
He said:
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