Optimis successfully negotiates removal of all affordable housing for development in Suffolk

Optimis is delighted to have renegotiated a removal of all affordable housing from a development in Leiston, Suffolk earlier this month. A consent was issued in 2017 for a development of 20 homes with 5 affordable, on a site that was a former gas holder. Although decommissioned the remediation of the land introduced substantial costs to the development and Optimis submitted a Section 106A application to seek the complete removal of the affordable homes so that the project could become viable and deliverable.  It was successfully argued that the reduction of the affordable was necessary to account for the abnormal costs of delivery, that could not have been fully appreciated at the point of granting consent for the original application in 2017. Utilising our specialist skills in viability assessment and negotiation, we were able to secure both officer and member support for the viable regeneration of a difficult urban site.

Author: Justin Wickersham

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