A DEVELOPER whose bid for a housing development was rejected says there’s an affordable home crisis in Wiltshire.

Last year property developer Dunmoore put in plans to build 50 affordable houses in Pewsey, but they were rejected.

In turning down the proposals, Wiltshire Council’s planning officers said the plans conflicted with the Pewsey Neighbourhood Plan and that 50 affordable homes would come into conflict with the council’s policies on mixed housing to “achieve mixed and balanced sustainable communities” and Pewsey’s neighbourhood plan.

Dunmoore pointed out that in the 2017 Wiltshire and Swindon Strategic Housing Marketing Assessment identified a need for 14,376 affordable homes.

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According to the developers this leaves a shortfall of 617 properties to present.

“Over the next five years, 842 affordable homes per year are required to meet a growing need,” it said.

“By comparison, the council is only delivering 578 affordable homes per year creating a county-wide shortfall which is only going to increase.”

In Pewsey, where the bid was turned down, 170 new houses have been built between 2009 and 2020. Of those only 31 of a required 68 are classed as affordable.

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Dunmoore chief executive Jeffrey Hobby said: “There are no allocated sites for housing in Pewsey, so they’ve run out of sites.

“There might be the odd windfall site but those don’t deliver affordable homes.

“So there’s no likely delivery until the plan’s reviewed in 2026 which means that over that period there won’t have been any delivered affordable homes in Pewsey.”

According to Homes England figures, 689 affordable properties were built or completed in 2020/21 – the lowest figure in four years.

This was 98 fewer than the year before and 360 fewer than 2017/18.

Mr Hobby said there’s a growing pressure for more homes as Covid-19 has changed how some people work, and that a lack of affordable homes meant they would be “forced to live in substandard accommodation, share with family or move away”.

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“If you’re a parent with kids and you’re looking at a five or six year wait for suitable housing – your children are growing up and leaving home. It’s a big part of their lives,” Mr Hobby continued.

“It needs to be delivered within a reasonable timescale. It is real people’s lives, it’s not theoretical numbers, and they need homes.”

“Where we know there’s a real critic need, I think we should be getting on it and delivering it in a timely fashion.”

Mr Hobby said he wants the council to address the issue of affordable housing and stop “kicking the can round the county”.

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Cabinet member for strategic planning, Nick Botterill said: “This application was made for a greenfield site which was not one allocated for new housing and it was refused for several reasons, including the conflict with the policies of the Wiltshire Core Strategy and the Pewsey Neighbourhood Plan.

"It would also have a harmful impact on the landscape in this designated area of outstanding natural beauty and failed to address the potential harm to the River Avon.

“We most certainly recognise the need for affordable housing in Wiltshire, but each application is judged on its own merits according to all relevant planning policies and laws and this one failed in this regard.”