Newsteer is very pleased to have been involved with this successful appeal for a 133 unit Extra Care village on a greenfield site within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Richard Garside was part of the appeal team providing viability advice
to the client, Inspired Villages (part of Legal & General) in respect of the site itself and the wider impact on planning policy.

It was pleasing to see that the Inspector, Harold Stephens, agreed with Richard on the viability issues stating “it is clear to me from the evidence of Mr Garside that the scheme is not technically viable. It does not give the landowners the return which would be achievable if the land were sold for market housing and a compliant level of affordable housing”.

This is a very important point when Retirement Village developers are being asked by local authorities to compete in the market for sites with housebuilders given the current lack of a specific use class or specific site allocations for this type of development.

Please get in touch with Richard or Lottie Smallwood if you have any queries.