A major development of almost a hundred homes in the centre of Bath will contain no affordable housing, despite the council itself being behind the plans.
An artist’s impression of plots six and seven at Bath Quays North | Image © B&NES Council
Councillors on Bath & North East Somerset Council’s planning committee reluctantly approved the plans on 19th November, despite raising concerns about the lack of affordable housing.
The plans will see 96 homes built in two blocks of flats on Green Park Road Car Park, as part of the Bath Quays North regeneration project.
Large developments in this part of Bath would usually be required to include 40% affordable housing, under the council’s own rules, although developers can build less if the land value would make providing affordable housing unviable.
Planning officers told the committee: “The development would not be viable with any amount of affordable housing.”
Committee member Councillor Fiona Gourley (Bathavon South, Liberal Democrat) said: “If this land is owned by Bath & North East Somerset and the developer is … effectively Bath and North East Somerset, what is it that is costing so much money that means this isn’t affordable?”
Green Park Road Car Park is a council-owned car park, and the developer is Aequus, a building company wholly owned by the council itself.
The council recently agreed to establish a limited liability partnership (LLP) with the company in order to deliver the development. Although no affordable housing is planned, the council has said that profits from the development returned through the LLP could be used to fund further regeneration projects or subsidise future social housing.
Councillor Shaun Hughes (Midsomer Norton North, Independent Group) said: “Aequus state as one of their stated objectives is to be fully policy compliant in terms of affordable housing.
“So I am trying to understand why we don’t have any affordable housing here when it is clearly not policy compliant.”
Councillor John Leach (Walcot, Liberal Democrat) added that the council was not a private developer which had to deliver profit to shareholders.
He said: “I am very uncomfortable with the fact that we are not able to provide any affordable housing in a development of this size.”
Council officers said the viability assessment was based on the whole Bath Quays North project, which also includes the redevelopment of Avon Street Car Park into an area full of commercial properties.
That part of the development, which received planning permission in May 2024, is being developed separately.
Councillor Eleanor Jackson (Westfield, Liberal Democrat) said: “I can’t quite see why, if you have got a commercial building you are able to let for commercial rent, you can’t afford to have any affordable housing in the residential part.”
But Councillor Tim Warren (Midsomer Norton Redfield, Conservative) said: “It’s a well known fact that commercial isn’t viable any more. So if you want more jobs in the city, it has to be subsidised.
“In this case, it’s being subsidised by not having affordable housing which is a shame.”
In 2019, Bath Quays North was described as “the most significant development in Bath in a generation”.
But after the company set to deliver it pulled out after Covid, the project “stalled” and building work never started.
Councillor Warren told the committee: “It needs doing.” He added: “Aequus will put affordable in if they possibly can. Private developers won’t.”
Concerns were also raised over the height of the buildings at the committee meeting, particularly the “significant” extent to which the five-storey block will tower over the two-storey building at the end of Milk Street.
Addressing the committee, neighbour Klaas Koopmans said: “I am going to lose all the light I get.”
Councillor Ian Halsall (Oldfield Park, Liberal Democrat) told the committee: “We are still a living, functioning city and we need to house people.
“I do feel that 96 dwellings in the city centre outweighs all the negatives that have been set out.”
Councillor Gourley said she found it “disappointing”. But she added: “In a situation where we don’t have a five-year land supply and we do need more housing, I guess I am going to have to go along with this.”
The planning committee voted 7-2 to grant planning permission for the scheme. Bath & North East Somerset Council formed the LLP with Aequus to build the flats on Green Park Road Car Park, along with another 65-home development across the river in Bath Quays South, while the local authority tries to find a new development partner to deliver the wider Bath Quays North development.
Last year, the council signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Bath to look at taking over the Bath Quays North redevelopment.
The university said it would look at using the location to create new spaces for research, innovation and “enterprise activities.”
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
