Woking Affordable Housing Policy

Woking adopted their Core Strategy back in October 2012, the document is said to “provide the certainty that local residents, businesses and developers need about the future direction of growth in the area”.

Policy CS12 of the Core Strategy sets out the expectations regarding affordable housing in the Borough, this can be seen below:

CS12: Affordable housing Between 2010 and 2027 the overall target for affordable housing is 35% of all new homes, equivalent to 1,737 new affordable homes. All new residential development on previously developed (brownfield) land will be expected to contribute towards the provision of affordable housing in accordance with the following criteria. • On sites providing 15 or more dwellings, or on sites of over 0.5ha (irrespective of the number of dwellings proposed), the Council will require 40% of dwellings to be affordable. • On sites providing between 10 and 14 new dwellings, the Council will require 30% of dwellings to be affordable. • On sites providing between five and nine new dwellings, the Council will require 20% of dwellings to be affordable or a financial contribution equivalent to the cost to the developer of providing 20% of the number of dwellings to be affordable on site, which will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. • On sites providing fewer than five new dwellings, the Council will require a financial contribution equivalent to the cost to the developer of providing 10% of the number of the dwellings to be affordable on site. The mechanisms for calculating financial contributions in lieu of on site provision will be set out in the Affordable Housing Delivery SPD. The affordable housing threshold and targets will apply to all new homes that are being proposed. All new residential development on Greenfield land and land in public ownership will be required to provide 50% of the dwellings as affordable housing, irrespective of the site size or number of dwellings proposed.

On sites where the Council is seeking a 50% affordable housing contribution, generally, the Council's preference will be to provide all the 50% affordable housing in-situ as part of the development. However, one of its over-riding objectives is to ensure an effective distribution of affordable housing across the Borough. In this regard, it is prepared to negotiate for a percentage of the 50% target to be provided off- site if that will ensure a more effective distribution of affordable housing across the Borough. The actual level of off-site provision will be determined on the merits of individual schemes that will come forward. As a guide, the Council will seek to ensure that 40% of the provision is secured in-situ. The proportion of affordable housing to be provided by a particular site will take into account the following factors. The need to provide an appropriate tenure mix that meets the needs of local residents, as evidenced by the latest SHMA, and that is considered affordable based on local income levels. The requirement for significant provision of new affordable family homes. Constraints on the development of the site imposed by other planning objectives. The need to achieve a successful housing development in terms of the location and mix of affordable homes. The costs relating to the development; in particular the financial viability of developing the site (using an approved viability model). If a site allocated or identified for housing is sub-divided so as to create two or more separate development schemes one or more of which falls below the relevant threshold, the Council will seek an appropriate level of affordable housing to reflect the provision that would have been achieved on the site as a whole had it come forward as a single scheme for the allocated or identified site. The delivery of affordable housing will be provided in accordance with the following order of priority. On-site as part of the development and distributed across the development as much as is reasonable and practical to create a sustainable, balanced community. On an alternative site, only if provision would result in a more effective use of available resources or would meet an identified housing need, such as providing a better social mix and wider housing choice. A financial payment to be utilised in providing affordable housing on an alternative site. Non residential developments which generate a need for housing will be required to provide a financial contribution towards the provision of new affordable housing which will be appropriate to the scale and kind of the development and subject to an assessment of financial viability. Planning conditions and/or obligations will be used to ensure that the affordable housing will remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for the subsidy to be recycled to alternative affordable housing provision. Full details of how this policy will be implemented will be set out in an Affordable Housing Delivery SPD.

As seen above, there are different requirements based on the number of dwellings proposed in a development and what type of land is being built on.

For developments on previously developed (brownfield) land, up to 40% of new homes will be sought as affordable housing:

15+ dwellings or over 0.5 ha = 40% on-site AH.
10-14 dwellings = 30% on-site AH.
5-9 dwellings = 20% on-site AH or an equivalent financial contribution.
>5 dwellings = financial contribution equivalent to 10%.

For developments on greenfield land or land in public ownership, the requirements are for 50% of new dwellings be affordable housing – regardless of the proposed number of units.

Woking Borough Council would prefer all affordable housing contributions to be provided on-site; however, they are prepared to negotiate a % of homes to be delivered off-site if it means a better distribution of affordable houses across the Borough.

Woking Council’s policy is now a decade out of date, therefore we advise that a site-specific viability assessment is completed on all developments of 2 or more dwellings in Woking.

Previous Work in Woking

Proposed Development = Demolition of existing building and the erection of 4 x detached houses. A total of 1,480m2 of residential accommodation.

Policy Implications/Requirements = Sites over 0.5 hectares should provide 40% of the new units as affordable.

Expectation on Affordable Housing = 40% of the 3 new units as affordable = 1.2 AH.

Result = No on-site affordable housing.

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Woking Affordable Housing Policy

Previous Work in Woking

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