Councillors criticise ‘little ghetto of affordable homes’ in Northampton development

Northamptonshire councillors have criticised plans for what they called a ‘ghetto’ of 100 affordable homes in a Northampton housing estate.

Outline permission was granted for the development in 2021 by the now-defunct Northampton Borough Council for up to 3,000 homes to the north-west of Northampton town centre.

The issues were raised by West Northamptonshire Council during a meeting of the strategic planning committee on Tuesday, November 21, which looked at a reserved matters application to approve 273 homes as part of the new Dallington Grange estate. The plans are part of the first phase of development, overseen by housing developer David Wilson Homes South Midlands.

Proposals for the 273 homes included a total of only 16 affordable units, which is well below WNC’s current policy of 30 percent of houses. It was explained that when the outline planning was approved, the site received permission to lower the rate of affordable housing to just ten percent of the development. As the 16 homes only equate to roughly six percent of the site the rest of the shortfall will be made up in a group of affordable properties to the south of Dallington Grange.

Councillor André González De Savage said he was “not happy at all” about the provision of affordable housing being “shoved” into a “corner somewhere”.

He said at the meeting: “We need to create communities and not ghettos. I think it’s a real Pandora’s box we’ve inherited from past councils. We really want a good, successful, healthy, vibrant community going forward- we desperately need the [affordable] homes now.”

The proposed group of affordable homes is to contain 100 units that will be delivered prior to the occupation of 300 houses in the whole Dallington Grange estate. Councillors asked if they could have any influence over changing the plans for the condensed area of housing, but were told that the last chance they would’ve had was when the outline application was negotiated by Northampton Borough Council years ago.

Councillor Bob Purser said: “I’m appalled that we’re being given an application that is so far away from our housing policy. We’ve got 4,000 people on our housing waiting list, 600 families in temporary accommodation- we are losing 50 affordable houses in this application.

“That’s 50 people who will be confined to being homeless because we are making the decision as recommended. At what point can we ensure that the housing we’re providing meets the needs of the people living in this area?

“We have a policy crisis – it is just not working. I really cannot support another application that doesn’t provide affordable housing, let alone social housing which is equally important.”

The council approved the reserved matters application for the 273 homes on the north border of the site. The development comprises a mix of two, three, four, and five-bed houses and all new units will be provided with a physical 7.4kw charging point for electric vehicles.

The chair of the strategic planning committee, Councillor Phil Bignell, committed to asking the developer questions and exploring the possibility of getting the one hundred affordable homes delivered earlier.