Moves afoot to revive house building in city

One idea is relaxing the rules which make housebuilders provide affordable homes as part of any development of 15 or more dwellings.

The council is asking people what they think of proposed new targets relating to affordable housing.

House building in Leeds has been badly affected by the recession, particularly in inner-city Leeds sites which are often previously developed, derelict or disused and therefore more costly to develop.

In 2007/8 around 213 affordable houses were delivered through the planning system.

This reduced to 99 in 2009/10 and only 14 towards the end of 2010/11.

As a result, the council’s Draft Interim Affordable Housing Policy 2011 proposes a reduction in affordable housing targets in most of the city by 10 to 15 per cent to try to remove some of the barriers in place to an improvement in house building.

More rural parts of the council’s area, where housing developments are more viable, will see their affordable housing targets increase by five per cent.

A consultation on the plans will run until March 18.

Councillor Richard Lewis, executive board member with responsibility for development and regeneration said: “The need for affordable housing still remains a priority for the council, but the market has reduced numbers to a trickle. It is necessary to set realistic targets which are likely to be deliverable and encourage house building in Leeds.

“We believe the targets we are proposing better reflect the market conditions in Leeds. We will keep the policy under review so that when the market fully recovers higher percentages of affordable housing may be delivered.”

Information about the Draft Interim Policy is available to view online at www.leeds.gov.uk/ldf and click “current consultations”.