Affordable housing could be dropped from Luton Power Court plans
The planning team behind Luton Town Football Club has asked for the affordable housing element to be removed from its Power Court redevelopment plans.
A formal request has been made by the club’s property arm 2020 Developments (Luton) Limited to remove an aspect of its legal obligations to make the project commercially viable.
A letter was sent to the borough council, as the local planning authority, by professional services firm WSP associate director Olivia St-Amour.
“The centrepiece of this regeneration will be a new 25,000 capacity stadium for the club, while critically delivering 1,200 new homes, with commercial and community space,” she explained.
“A hybrid application was granted planning committee for the central area, giving detailed permission for a new stadium and outline permission for a music venue and hotel.
“It’s been necessary to amend the consent for the east and west end of the site to ensure the hard and soft landscaping, as well as the public realm are delivered in conjunction with the stadium.
“An application to vary the conditions under the outline planning consent to reflect the phased approach of the development is currently being considered by LBC. It’s now apparent the corresponding Section 106 legal agreement will require amending to facilitate the delivery of the approved development.”
Affordable housing obligations totalled 20 per cent, added the letter from WSP. “Since 2022, the firm has been working on the delivery of housing amid what can only be described as difficult market circumstances.
“The labour, materials and other build costs have increased exponentially. These are only expected to increase further, making the future delivery of this key regeneration site even more challenging.
“An up-to-date financial viability assessment (FVA) produced by Redloft, supports this submission. The FVA concludes that the residential scheme is unviable with the current affordable housing provision, or indeed any affordable housing on the site or off it. That includes the provision of any commuted sum.
To facilitate a deliverable development, this obligation must be amended to reflect the latest viable position. We therefore write to LBC to seek to agree to amend the signed Section 106 agreement to remove the affordable housing provision.
“Without these amendments to the affordable housing provision, the site is simply unviable and undevelopable. The retention of this obligation would prevent the delivery of either end of the site at the same time as the stadium and leave the city centre site unfinished and undelivered.
“The other Section 106 obligations will still be secured, including contributions to education, fire hydrants, museums, waste, CCTV monitoring and highways,” said the letter.
“This submission is also made to vary the Section 106 agreement more widely to bring forward the land to the east and west of the site alongside the central stadium scheme.
“A deed of variation is sought to amend the relevant planning obligation schedules. This application seeks to amend the wording of schedules two, three, six, seven and eight of the agreement associated with the outline planning permission.
“This proposed deed of variation will ensure that the development of Power Court is delivered in a cohesive and viable manner.”