Resurrected plans to build 362 apartments in Bradford city centre could be approved next week, after an earlier bid to reduce the amount of planning obligations associated with the scheme was thrown out.
Sailbridge Developments was granted permission in 2008 for the multi-million pound project on a vacant plot at Trafalgar Street and Snowden Street, near the junction of Manningham Lane and Hamm Strasse.
The residential development is split into three buildings and includes a 14-storey tower, 164 studio apartments, 109 one-bed and 89 two-bed apartments, shops, cafes, offices and leisure units.
That permission expired in August, but before it did, an earlier bid was made to reduce the contributions that were agreed back in 2008 as part of a section 106 legal agreement. The developer asked if it could reduce its affordable housing contribution by a quarter, and its recreation open space and education contributions, previously agreed at £259,450 and £134,924 respectively, by a third each.
However, members of Bradford Planning Panel followed a recommendation from planning officers to refuse the April application. Officers believed the developer “had failed to give adequate or verifiable justification” as to why the social contributions should not be made.
Now the developer has resubmitted the application, and is being asked to contribute 15 per cent of the units for affordable housing, the same amount as the original 2008 application; £178,049 towards education provision, which is an increase of a third, and £161,045 towards recreational facilities, which is a reduction of almost 40 per cent.
This amounts to £55,000 less than previously agreed, and is being recommended for approval by planning officers. Planning consultant Philip Coote, agent for the developer, had previously said the authority was “in cloud cuckoo land” if it expected the developer to pay amounts agreed four years ago.
Now he told the Telegraph & Argus: “This is really just to keep the application alive. We submitted this renewal before the earlier application expired.
“We have agreed to the affordable housing contribution and the education contribution has gone up, but the recreation contribution has reduced, leaving a net reduction of about £55,000.”
If approved, the developer would need to look at the market again, and may decide to reduce the number of studio and one-bed flats in the development.
A decision is expected at Bradford Council’s regulatory and appeals committee, which is to take place on Wednesday, December 19, at 10am in City Hall, Bradford.