Crawley adopted their Local Plan in December 2015 and it ‘sets the way forward for planning the future of the town’.
Policy H4 of the Local Plan sets out the expectations regarding affordable housing in the area, this can be seen below:
For all residential development, no matter the number of dwellings proposed, 40% will be required as affordable housing.
The requested tenure mix is 70% affordable or social rent and 30% intermediate tenure.
As well as providing 40% of the units as affordable, on developments of 15+ dwellings, an additional 10% will be sought as low cost housing – offering up to 10% discount for first time buyers.
Unless evidence can be provided that a scheme may not be viable, the above targets will apply to all residential development.
If viability is a concern, expectations for low cost housing will lower first and then after a more comprehensive viability assessment, the affordable housing requirement will be revisited.
On-site provisions are preferable; however, on developments of 5 dwellings or less, if it can be robustly justified, financial contributions in lieu may be considered– providing they are of equal value.
