What issues may be identified?
Issues may be identified in relation to any element of the RLV.
Essentially, costs should be reasonable and values should be realistic. RLVs include allowances for reasonable developer profits and a suitable value for the land. It is important to remember that on-site affordable housing has a value, which should also be accounted for, albeit not full market value. CIL charges should be included as a cost and the sums for how they were calculated included in the supporting text of the viability appraisal.
Where there is a clearly identified viability issue, the next stage of discussion will be to see if anything could be done that would reduce costs and/or increase values. Redesigning the scheme, including considering changes to the mix, size, type and tenure of the units may also be considered, where this would improve the viability of the scheme.
This approach is in line with the National Planning Practice Guidance which indicates that where the deliverability of the development may be compromised by the scale of planning obligations and other costs, a viability assessment may be necessary. This should be informed by the particular circumstances of the site and the proposed development in question. Assessing the viability of a particular site requires more detailed analysis than at plan level.