Hadleigh 14-home development with no affordable dwellings to be considered by Babergh District Council

Planners are considering a proposal for 14 homes in Hadleigh after a previously approved scheme turned out to be financially unviable.

Birch Homes Ltd has asked Babergh District Council for full permission to build the dwellings on land to the south side of the A1071, at Gallows Hill.

Permission already exists for a 14-home development at the site, however the new scheme does not include any affordable homes.

See the plans online here.

A planning statement submitted to planners said: “The previous scheme has been approved and it has been implemented. This application only proposes the removal of the affordable dwellings.”

The previous application, including four affordable homes, was granted approval in July 2020.

The statement added: “When the site was sold to its current landowner, who is also the applicant to this application, it became apparent that the scheme was not viable. Viability was not considered in any detail during the original application.”

The planning statement said the council had previously declined to modify or discharge the affordable homes planning obligation ‘notwithstanding that all the evidence before the council indicated the scheme was not viable with the provision of affordable housing and the council confirmed it was not viable’.

As a result, the development has stalled – awaiting the outcome of this new application.