A BID to increase the number of homes being built at the Bishop’s Stortford Goodsyard development has been approved by East Herts Council’s development management committee. At a meeting yesterday (Wednesday, May 21), the committee agreed to a further 423 properties being built on the site, where 323 homes have already been completed reports the Local Democracy Reporter.

Developer Solum – a partnership between Network Rail and Kier Property – applied for outline permission for up to 245 homes, and full permission for 178 homes. The properties will be built in blocks of up to seven storeys, with the increased heights and number of homes agreed in a council-approved masterplan from 2022.

The full application for 178 homes includes 89 with one bedroom, 84 with two, and five with three. Most would be in five or six storey blocks.

In addition to the homes, the outline application also includes 3,276sqm of commercial floorspace and car parking for up to 565 vehicles. Across the homes agreed yesterday, there will be 0.5 car parking spaces available per home, with council officers describing the site as “one of the most sustainable locations for development in the district”.

The site was previously a freight interchange at Bishop’s Stortford railway station and is owned by Network Rail.  While planning officers had recommended that councillors approve the plans, concerns were raised at the meeting by two ward councillors.

Cllr Mione Goldspink noted that the new total number of homes for the site – 746 – was greater than the 600 expected in the council’s Local Plan, despite the size of the site being reduced after Network Rail decided to retain a portion of the land.

“A smaller site with larger numbers of dwellings leads to taller blocks of flats,” Cllr Goldspink said. Cllr Chris Wilson, meanwhile, warned that the plans would put more pressure on “struggling” infrastructure and insisted there was not enough money included for active transport.

Hertfordshire County Council had requested £2.89m from the developer to contribute to improving sustainable transport, but only £673,157 is expected to be given.  Richard Bower, a Bishop’s Stortford town councillor, said the development should be in sympathy with the town’s historic character and suggested people have compared existing flats on the site to those found in “communist Eastern Europe”.

There were also concerns about the low percentage of affordable housing in the development. 24 of the homes in this application will be classed as affordable, according to the government definition of the term, and across the site as a whole 11.79 per cent will be affordable – well below the 40 per cent usually expected in East Herts.

A council officer said: “The developer is currently unable to meet the full affordable housing target due to verified financial challenges, however safeguards are in place to review the viability later and increase affordable housing if the scheme becomes profitable.” A council-appointed consultant concluded that the development as a whole is expected to result in a loss to the developer of £11.27m.

David Bridges, managing director of developer Solum Ventures, said they aim to develop “brownfield sites across train stations”. He continued: “These sites are a hugely sustainable way of delivering new homes in locations where people want to live, are strongly supported by national and local policies, and help to reduce pressure on the green belt.

“This scheme is stuck and cannot move forward unless this application is approved. It was always complex and challenging, but since Covid has become more so as we’ve been hit by multiple obstacles, including far higher interest rates and build costs up thirty per cent in the last three years.”

Simon Dunlop, project lead for Kier, said buyers for properties at the site would include younger adults who wanted to “stay local” and for whom the location near the railway station would be “a key draw”.

East Herts Council cannot currently demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, which makes it significantly more difficult for the authority to block new developments. Councillors voted to approve the application by six votes to two, with one abstention. Those voting against were Cllr Graeme Hill and Cllr Sarah Copley.