A new development of affordable homes can be built in Carlisle.
Home Group wants to create the 114-house estate on land to the north of Burgh Road and its revised application was approved by Cumberland Council’s planning committee this week.
The proposal had been previously considered by the committee, which approved the scheme.
Conditions included the requirement of a zebra crossing, a satisfactory nutrient pollution scheme and the completion of a satisfactory legal agreement.
Since that decision was taken, the tenure of the affordable housing had been altered and the nutrient neutrality catchment area had changed.
It meant that some major urban areas, including Carlisle, are no longer subject to all the nutrient neutrality requirements.
The requirements ensure no net increase in nutrient pollution – nitrogen or phosphorus – enters protected habitats. Developers must use calculators to determine nutrient loads and implement mitigation, such as wetlands or land-use changes, to achieve neutral or negative impact.
The areas now outside the boundary are released from the stringent planning constraints.
A report to the committee added that: “If the development is undertaken as now currently proposed, that is with the tenure split, this potentially leading to staircasing.
“Staircasing is the process for shared ownership leaseholders to purchase additional shares in their home, increasing their equity stake from the initial purchase, usually 25 to 75 per cent, up to 100 per cent.
“Buying more shares reduces, and eventually eliminates, the rent paid to the housing provider. The cost of new shares is based on the home’s market value at the time of purchase.”
