Developer loses appeal over restriction on new Austwick homes (From Craven Herald)

Developer loses appeal over restriction on new Austwick homes

9:00am Friday 18th January 2013 in News

A developer has lost his fight to get a local occupancy restriction lifted on new homes in Austwick.

Maximus Development Ltd, which is building five homes at Pant Head, Pant Lane, had asked the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to lift the restriction on four of the homes if, in return, it sold the fifth to a housing association as affordable housing.

The company said it had cut £30,000 from the sale price of the homes because potential purchasers were put off by the local occupancy restriction, which also made getting a mortgage difficult.

But the authority’s planning committee decided there were no exceptional circumstances to justify a departure from its adopted housing strategy, which, at the time permission was granted, required a local occupancy agreement on each house.

In a report, officers said the site owner hadn’t produced a financial viability assessment, setting out the costs of development against reasonable sale price.

They added: “Whilst the owner of the site is experiencing difficulties selling the five houses, it is still not clear what is influencing this.”