Draft Regulation 18 Sandwell Local Plan

Policy SHO6 - Financial Viability Assessments for Housing

1. A planning application that complies with up-to-date policies within this plan will be assumed to be viable and should seek to provide any relevant planning contributions necessary to make it acceptable in planning terms. The onus will be on the applicant to demonstrate that the provision of planning contributions would adversely affect the financial viability of the development proposals.
2. Financial viability assessments conforming to national guidance will be required to be submitted and, where necessary, independently appraised by an appropriate professional appointed by the local planning authority at the cost of the applicant. Flexible arrangements will be sought through planning agreements, wherever possible, to allow for changing market conditions in future years.
3. Any viability assessment should be prepared on the basis that it will be made publicly available other than in exceptional circumstances, and in such circumstances an executive summary will be made publicly available.
4. On sites where applying the affordable housing or accessibility and wheelchair user requirements set out in Policies SHO4 and SHO5 can be demonstrated to make the development unviable, the maximum proportion of such housing will be sought that will not undermine the viability of the development, subject to achieving optimum tenure mix and securing other planning obligations necessary for the development to gain planning permission.