24 Apr Public Inquiry – Monday 24th April
UPDATE FOR MONDAY 24th APRIL
A summary of today’s events:
Now it is the turn of Polo (Addison Park) to take the stand.
First up was Brian Parker who spent a lot of time slagging off SADC for not having an up-to-date local plan. He also accused them of demonstrating indifference to the needs of Key Workers, although relying on the services provided Key Workers.
He said the biggest problem facing Key Workers was affordability, and that Steve Collins wanted his legacy to be the provision of discounted houses for Key Workers. Discount may need to be more than one third to make them affordable.
Although there are no military bases in Herts, he felt that discounted accommodation should be provided both for military families and for veterans.
He then turned to the Green Belt Review and quoted 2013/4 versions. He was corrected by Andrew who pointed out that the 2018 version was the latest.
In response to a question from Shirani, he said that the Green Belt Boundary should be moved to accommodate housing for Key Workers and others.
Inspector Boniface then asked some questions to clarify affordability.
After a break, Annie Gingell took the stand and gave a robust performance on the subject of affordable housing. She said there was evidence of need for both small (one bed) and larger (2-3 bed) housing. SADC were said to be not providing this. There was a lot of discussion over various suggestions re affordable mortgages and the degree of shared ownership, without coming to any agreement. She repeated Brian’s earlier statement that discounts offered would need to be more than one third.
Shirani made the point that disposable income needed to be considered when looking at affordability, not just net income.
Paul pointed out that SADC are selling properties in Jubilee Square without any discount, but they are available on Shared Ownership terms.
The link for the recording of today’s webcast is:
https://stalbans.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/770252
The link to Tuesday’s webcast is:
https://stalbans.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/770253
Scheduled start time is 9:30am.
Every day the Inquiry will be live-streamed so will be available to view online at:
https://stalbans.public-i.tv/
Further Inquiry details and documents are available on the SADC website at:
https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/
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