FI15711

Request

1. The total number of dwellings in developments that were granted planning permission by the council between 5 July 2024 and 4 January 2025 - and how many of these dwellings are currently designated as being for social rent*? (For the avoidance of doubt, please count individual units within multi-home developments as separate dwellings - e.g. count a block of 20 flats as 20 dwellings, etc.) 

* To be clear, we are asking for data specifically on dwellings that will be let at social rent, and do not want statistics on umbrella categories such as "affordable". This is the case for every question in this FOI request that asks about social rent dwellings. 

1a. If possible, please provide a breakdown of this data for each month, detailing the total number of dwellings given planning permission and how many of these are for social rent.

1b. If possible, of the dwellings currently designated as being for social rent, please provide a breakdown of how many are one-bed, two-bed, three-bed, have more than three bedrooms or have an unspecified number of bedrooms. 

2. What is your policy on the proportion of units in each new development in your area that should be for social rent, and has this changed since 5 July 2024?

Response

1. The number of dwellings granted planning permission between 5 July 2024 and 4 January 2025 was 386 (Net).

Out of those 386 dwellings, 12 are Affordable/Social Rented properties. To view this planning application for more details, see the table below, or visit our planning portal here.

Application

Application type

Application number

Decision Date

Status 23/24

Net Units

DM5 or SP5?

Affordable Units

AH Tenure

1 bed

2 bed

3 bed

4 bed

Major

Full

23/00976

19/07/2024

Not Started

71

DM5

22

12 X Affordable/Social Rent

6

2

2

2

2. The new Affordable Housing Strategic Policy SP5 was adopted 16^th October 2024, replacing the previous Policy DM5. Policy DM5 will apply to all applications granted up to 16^th October, after which Policy SP5 will be applied.

Policy requirements:

Policy SP5: The new Affordable Housing Policy SP5 (adopted in October 2024) states the following: “The affordable housing shall be provided with a tenure split of 55% affordable/social rent, 25% First Homes (at 30% discount rate) and 20% other affordable home ownership products. All proposals are expected to meet their full affordable housing provision on-site.”  More information on this Policy can be found in the Local Plan from page 44.

Affordable Housing will be required on sites of 10+ Units/0.5 HA excluding Dover Urban Area OR 6+ Units/0.5 HA in Designated Rural Areas

Policy DM5: Prior to October 2024 – Policy DM5 required the provision of onsite affordable housing for residential developments of 15 or more dwellings, or to provide financial contribution towards the provision of affordable housing for residential developments between 5 and 14 dwellings. More information on this superseded Policy can be found in the  Core Strategy Policy DM5, which doesn’t specify the mix.

 

Internal Review Documents

Internal Review Request:

Thanks for your FOI response. 

However, you said:  The number of dwellings granted planning permission between 5 July 2024 and 4 January 2025 was 386 (Net). 

Out of those 386 dwellings, 12 are Affordable/Social Rented properties. To view this planning application for more details, see the table below, or visit our planning portal [1]here. 

But I specifically said I only want to know the total number of dwellings granted planning permission, and how many of these are designated for *social* rent. I made clear that I'm not interested in other umbrella categories such as "affordable". 

Can you please answer my questions fully by telling me how many social rent properties were granted planning permission over this period?

 

Internal Review Response:

I can confirm that I have been in contact with our Planning Department who provided the original information and asked if they could just provide data in respect of 'Social Rented' properties.  They have advised that the only application that had 'social rent' included as a type of affordable housing is the application listed in the response sent to you.  Unfortunately, the split between affordable and social rent is not available as this particular application did not separate out the two tenure types, as shown here in the  23_00976-AFFORDABLE_HOUSING_STATEMENT-2433951.pdf, which is available on the planning portal.