In Sheffield just 1.4% of homes approved by planners met the government’s affordable definition, while in Nottingham the figure was 3.8%, a Guardian Cities investigation has shown

Some of the UK’s biggest cities are allowing developers to plan huge new residential developments containing little or no affordable housing, a Guardian Cities investigation has found.



In Manchester, none of the 14,667 homes in big developments granted planning permission by the council’s planning committee in the last two years are set to be “affordable”, planning documents show – in direct contravention of its own rules, and leading to worries that London’s affordable housing crisis is spreading.

In Sheffield – where house prices grew faster last year than in any other UK city, according to property portal Zoopla – just 97 homes out of 6,943 (1.4%) approved by planners in 2016 and 2017 met the government’s affordable definition. That says homes must either be offered for social rent (often known as council housing), or rented at no more than 80% of the local market rate.

In Nottingham, where the council aims for 20% of new housing to be affordable, just 3.8% of units given the green light by council planners meet the definition, Guardian research found.

In Manchester, named by Deloitte earlier this month as one of Europe’s fastest growing cities and where property now sells three times as quickly as in London, planners have routinely waved through huge new developments – some containing swimming pools, tennis courts and more than 1,000 flats. Not one of the swanky apartments meets the national definition of “affordable” – leading critics to accuse the council of social cleansing.

Others worry the city could become like London, where people on average salaries can no longer afford to live anywhere central. In central Manchester monthly rents have increased on average by more than £100 year on year, according to campaigners.

The irony is that, despite London having the biggest affordable housing problem in the UK, some councils in the capital now demand that new developments include affordable provision. For example, in Westminster, one of the world’s most expensive neighbourhoods, developers agreed to price an average of 12% of all large residential developments at “affordable” rates between 2016 and 2017, usually agreeing to transfer ownership to a housing association. Those who refused almost always had to pay huge sums as a penalty.

Most councils across the UK have their own planning guidelines on what percentage of homes in any big development should be “affordable”. In Manchester, any development of 16 or more units or on a site larger than 0.3 hectares should include 20% affordable housing.

Asked why it ignored its own guidelines, Manchester city council said there are already 68,000 social rented properties in the city – a third of the housing stock, compared with the national average of 16%. Despite this, more than 12,900 people are waiting for a house on Manchester’s social housing register.

The council claims that, once on the open market, many flats may meet its own definition of affordability, which is that that rent or mortgage payments should not cost more than a third of the average Mancunian household’s income of £27,000. That equates to rent of £687.50 per month rent or a mortgage of around £125,000.

But new research on housing financialisation in Greater Manchester by Dr Jonathan Silver, from the University of Sheffield, found that the average cost of a one-bedroom flat in Manchester city centre is now £192,818. In order to buy one, prospective owner-occupiers who have saved a large (and for many unrealistic) £20,000 deposit would have to pay £914 per month, not including bills.

Silver argues that, without more affordable housing, “key workers from shop assistants to nurses or teachers and those entering the professional services are all being displaced or unable to access housing in these areas”.

Revealed: how developers exploit flawed planning system to minimise affordable housing Read more

Property adviser JLL warned last year that Manchester city centre has moved out of the price range of young professionals, who now have to look to the suburbs to find affordable accommodation.

One major way developers get past planners is by filing confidential “viability” appraisals. These assessments, which often take place once significant work on the development has already been done, frequently conclude that, if the developer were forced to include any affordable flats, their schemes would be insufficiently profitable.

Research by the housing charity Shelter in November found that where viability assessments were used, new housing sites achieved just 7% affordable housing.

Liberal Democrat councillor John Leech, the one-man opposition to the Labour-run council in Manchester, has demanded the council publish these appraisals so that they can be scrutinised.

Last year, Bristol council decided to force housing developers to do so. Guardian figures show that in the last two years just 6.77% of new developments in the city will be affordable.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Amid a chronic lack of housing, Bristol forced developers to publish their viability appraisals. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Leech said Manchester should not become a preserve for the rich: “It is not beyond the realm of probability that key workers will struggle to rent property in [south Manchester suburbs] Didsbury and Chorlton and in the city centre.”

He added: “I describe it as a kind of social cleansing because people who have grown up in some areas of Manchester cannot now afford to live there.”

In Sheffield, developers are not required to provide any affordable housing in certain areas, notably the city centre, where a lot of multi-storey student accommodation has been given the green light. In the south and south-west of the city, they are supposed to transfer 30% of units to a registered provider and be offered as “affordable”. But developers can bypass these quotas with viability appraisals.

Other cities are far more strict with developers. In Cardiff, 24% of the homes granted planning approval in 2016 and 2017 met the affordable definition.

Leeds council routinely forces developers to include at least 5% affordable units in any large development. Some 2,011 affordable homes have been built in Leeds since 2012 – 510 of which were in the private sector, agreed as part of agreements with big developers.

Judith Blake, the leader of Leeds city council, said: “We are determined that quality housing is available for people on a range of different incomes so that our city’s growth is inclusive.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An apartment complex in central Manchester. Photograph: Ascend

“Working alongside developers and the government, we are seeking to speed up the delivery of over 16,000 new homes in the city centre with at least 20% of them being some form of affordable housing, considerably over and above the 5% planning policy requirement.”

A government spokesman said: “Councils are responsible for producing a plan to create the homes they need in their area.

“We have recently consulted on changes to how viability assessments are used. Our proposals aim to help councils create clearer requirements for affordable homes on new developments and make sure the system is more transparent and applied more consistently.”

An additional 41,530 affordable homes were delivered in England in 2016-17, according to the department for communities and local government. Of those, 5,380 were for social rent, 24,350 for affordable rent and 11,810 for intermediate affordable housing (which includes shared ownership schemes).

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Research by Charlie Cocksedge

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• This article was amended on 22 March 2018 to clarify that the figures relating to Manchester were those granted planning permission by the council’s planning committee, not all planning permissions granted by the council. After publication the city’s council explained that in the last two years, 19 further developments containing affordable housing were given planning permission, but those didn’t go through the planning committee because no one objected to them. Those developments are set to contain 850 affordable homes, 136 of which will be social housing.

