Mayor faces questions over financing of ‘brownfield’ housing in Aiskew

Newly elected Mayor David Skaith is facing questions after pushing through a proposal to release up to £1.23m of government money to build new homes on vacant land. It is claimed the scheme is on a largely undeveloped site and would go ahead without the funding.

At a meeting of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority it was announced that projects by Broadacres Housing Association in Blind Lane, Aiskew and Linton-on-Ouse, and Latimer Developments in Cocoa Gardens, York, have been awarded up to £4.3 million from the Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF) and the Mayoral Investment Fund.

During the meeting it was stated that the financing would lead to the delivery of approximately 300 ‘extra’ homes.

Mr Skaith said that while the BHF would inevitably provide more capacity in urban areas, it was good news for the region that hundreds of homes were being built.

He said his ambition was to create more homes that meet the needs of rural communities, which was “a huge challenge but one we had to take on”.

Leader of York City Council, Councillor Claire Douglas, added: “The opportunity to build on brownfield sites is hugely important because I think we are all keenly aware that this is the first place we need to build to bring additional affordable housing to our region, across York and every corner of North Yorkshire.”

While the government defines vacant land as developed land on which a permanent structure is or has been located, a report by a council officer on the Aiskew site prior to the planning application being approved last year found that farm buildings cover just 40 per cent of the area of ​​the application site.

Last autumn, councillors were told that the viability gap in the Aiskew scheme had been closed after a developer, Keepmoat, agreed to reduce its developer profit margin to a contractor profit margin.

However, the official’s report to the joint authority shows that a gap has again opened up in terms of feasibility, with the cost of demolishing a former pigsty and hatchery on the site making it ‘uneconomic without additional financial support’.

The report stated that the applicant had provided ‘little information as to why the preferred option is the best way forward’.

It added that the Aiskew scheme for 88 affordable homes “would still be delivered as planned” without the £1.23m in funding from the mayor, but with cheaper building materials or less energy-efficient technologies.

The Aiskew plan includes 49 social housing units, with rents of approximately 60 percent of market value, and 39 shared ownership units, with an initial equity participation of at least ten percent.

After the meeting, North Yorkshire Council Green Party leader Kevin Foster said he wanted confirmation from the joint authorities that the Aiskew site was considered a brownfield site.

He added: “It is really worrying that brownfield sites, and we have plenty of them in North Yorkshire, appear to have been overlooked in this case.

“Let’s have some completely derelict sites and some social housing because that’s what will bring down rents. I still don’t know what affordable housing is. If you can quote £250,000 for a house, I wouldn’t agree with it.”