Apparently when a building company applies for Planning Permission for a new Estate, they have to include a % of affordable homes per i.e. 100 high-end houses. So Plans are put into the local Building Office with the legal requirement of affordable and therefore approved. However, after the land has been cleared and amenities fitted, i.e. water pipes etc., it is common for large Companies to alter the Plans, knowing that few LAs can afford to veto their alterations and make them stick to the Plans that have been ticked off.
This is currently happening at Battersea where the old Power Station is being up-graded - see Thursday
Daily Telegraph Business page 8 for the whole article. Originally 636 affordable homes were approved but now the target has been cut to 386 out of 4,239 properties.
"The developers said that the remaining 250 affordable homes it promised would only be built after an "end of scheme review"." A letter sent to Wandsworth Council from an indepdentent consultant: BNP Paribas Real Estate: states "it is very un-likely that these units will be delivered".
So once again the lower end of the pay-scale are being penalised. Plans are approved by the LA due to the Companies agreeing to that % but once footings etc. are dug 'technical issues' can alter those initial Plans and they re-submit with alterations. Which is why fewer and fewer affordable or shared-ownership properties are being built
There doesn't seem to be any ethical realisation that people need a roof over their heads in order to get a job ..........