50 signatures reached
To: Salford City Council
Make housing developers be transparent in Salford
Require developers to make their viability assessments public if they claim they cannot meet council targets of affordable housing in new developments.
Why is this important?
Current planning law states that if a developer will make less than 20% profit on a new development, they can ignore a council's regulations about building affordable and social housing.
Leaked documents from several developers have shown that the maths they use to work out their profit margins are purposefully misleading, allowing them to claim they will make less than 20% profit on a development by undervaluing the prices of the houses they will sell and over-costing the labour.
To combat this Islington, Greenwich, Lambeth and Bristol councils have introduced a policy that forces developers "viability assessments" to be made public.
By bringing these dodgy maths into the public domain, Councils, campaigning groups and individuals will be able to hold developers to account and force them to use more honest maths.
The Salford Star estimates that over 1,000 affordable properties have been lost to the city via these 'viability' get out clauses, plus over £40million in planning fees and obligations.
Barratt Homes even acknowledged the controversy that surrounds the avoidance of fees by developers... "We note the Council has supported residential developments based upon viability to support a reduced contribution, and this can be met with local political and community unease"
See these Salford Star articles to read how Salford Council cocked it all up:
http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=2770
http://salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=3534
http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=3574
...And then please sign this petition...
Leaked documents from several developers have shown that the maths they use to work out their profit margins are purposefully misleading, allowing them to claim they will make less than 20% profit on a development by undervaluing the prices of the houses they will sell and over-costing the labour.
To combat this Islington, Greenwich, Lambeth and Bristol councils have introduced a policy that forces developers "viability assessments" to be made public.
By bringing these dodgy maths into the public domain, Councils, campaigning groups and individuals will be able to hold developers to account and force them to use more honest maths.
The Salford Star estimates that over 1,000 affordable properties have been lost to the city via these 'viability' get out clauses, plus over £40million in planning fees and obligations.
Barratt Homes even acknowledged the controversy that surrounds the avoidance of fees by developers... "We note the Council has supported residential developments based upon viability to support a reduced contribution, and this can be met with local political and community unease"
See these Salford Star articles to read how Salford Council cocked it all up:
http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=2770
http://salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=3534
http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=3574
...And then please sign this petition...
