What if the scheme is still not viable?
There are many reasons in relation to good planning, and our wider role, to work with applicants to try and improve the viability of any proposal. Ideally, we should work together to find a way to deliver a scheme that meets all the targets. However, this may not always be the case.
In such circumstances the aim will be to get as close to the targets as possible, by securing as much as is viable.
Having considered efforts to improve the viability of the scheme, if an applicant has clearly demonstrated that providing the target amount of affordable housing and other requirements on a particular site is currently not viable we may agree to negotiate.
As was clearly demonstrated during the credit crunch, the viability of a site may change over time. RLVs are a snapshot in time and reflect current costs and values. For schemes with longer build out rates we may seek to include claw-back or overage clauses, or programme in a re-appraisal of the RLV and resulting contributions, at particular phases of the scheme.