Decision on apartments for elderly stall over infrastructure costs demands
MELBOURNE: A growing number of seniors housing consent applications are stalling over demands to fund community infrastructure.
A decision on plans to build new apartments for the elderly has been pushed back over concerns a council was being treated ‘as a cash cow’.
McCarthy Stone Retirement Lifestyles Ltd wanted to build 36 retirement living apartments on land south of the Sole Bay Health Centre, in Teal Close, Reydon, near Southwold.
But East Suffolk Council’s planning committee decided to push the decision back at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
Their main concern was that the applicant was not contributing as much as it should toward affordable housing in the district.
Developments of this size would normally require 40 per cent of the homes to be affordable, but an assessment submitted alongside the application argued this was not possible.
Instead, a legally-binding contribution of £87,302 was proposed, which officers said was considered a reasonable outcome given the circumstances around the viability of the site.
They also said the scheme would contribute to the supply of ‘critically low’ specialist accommodation within the district.
Plans for the plot of land first emerged in 2009 as a care home alongside the health centre and nearby homes, but the 60-bed facility was never built.
Two further applications since 2020 were also withdrawn before being given consent.
Ian Hann, the agent, said the latest plans would ‘provide comfort and security for people to live healthy, happy lives in their own homes’.
But this did not convince councillors.
Cllr David Beavan, the ward member and the authority’s lead for housing, said viability assessments used ‘every trick in the book’ to reduce contributions.
He accused the applicant of treating the authority ‘as a cash cow’ and moved to delay the decision so the viability assessment could be examined again.
“I’m sure we can come to an agreement which would be good for the community and gets this built, which is what we all want,” Cllr Beavan said.
Several other councillors said they would like to refuse the application altogether but could not ‘find a reason to do it’.