Viable Placemaking support Affordable Housing Delivery in Dorset

Viable Placemaking are proud to have supported a planning application for new homes in Dorset, which will deliver a much needed contribution towards local affordable housing.

The Purbeck Local Plan (2018-2024) has a strict affordable housing poicy (H11) which has a sliding-scale affordable housing requirement, beginning with schemes of 2-9 units which are required to provide a commuted sum financial affordable housing contribution of 20%.

Further details of the affordable housing thresholds and requirements in Policy H11 are included in the table below:

Number of homes or site area	Greenfield sites	Brownfield sites
2-9 (applies Purbeck wide, except for the following areas which are not designated as rural: Lytchett Minster, Upton and Wareham Town Councils)	20%	20%
10 homes or more, or more than 0.5ha inside settlements	40% on-site	30% on-site

Viable Placemaking were recently instructed to provide affordable housing and viability advice for the development of 3 new homes in the area. Following review of the costs and values associated with the development, we concluded the development was viable and could support a contribution towards affordable housing.

We then provided an Affordable Housing Statement to support the development and confirm the policy-compliant amount which will be secured through a Section 106 Agreement as part of the planning application.

Viable Placemaking is committed to providing all types of housing, including open market and affordable housing, where it is viable and deliverable at a site, to meet the needs of the community.

A great deal of our viability and economic work occurs "behind the scenes" to ensure developments are viable and deliverable before a planning application is submitted. This includes advising on a scheme's design, housing mix, and other factors to ensure a policy-compliant and acceptable development is brought forward to meet local needs.

If you would like expert viability and or planning advice on your development, or would like to find out how we might work together, please don't hesitate to get in touch.