Bayfield Homes Ltd’s bid to ditch affordable homes element of Chapel Road, Mendlesham, 28-house project thrown out

A developer’s bid to remove the affordable homes element of a 28-house project has been thrown out.

Mid Suffolk District Council refused the application by Bayfield Homes Ltd to remove the provision for its development on land south of Chapel Road, Mendlesham.

The company had sought to deliver a ‘100 per cent open market housing scheme’.

Planners said the original obligation to deliver affordable homes was considered to ‘serve a useful purpose’.

They added planning permission was granted for the development subject to the amount of affordable housing secured.

Mendlesham Parish Council unanimously recommended refusal of the proposals.

It said the council supported the application on the basis it provided ‘much needed affordable housing’.

In its refusal recommendation, the parish council said: “Why should local people in need now suffer due to the inadequacy of the past and current landowners or the developers to provide a financially workable solution.”

Mid Suffolk Strategic Housing did not support the removal of the affordable housing provision

Under the original application, 35 per cent of the housing in the project should be affordable.

This amounted to eight properties: four one-bedroom flats, a two-bedroom detached house and three two-bedroom terraced homes.

The site is around 1.5 hectares.