Policy information sourced from the Sutton Local Plan 2016-2031

8: Affordable Housing

a. The council will seek to maximise affordable housing from all sources, of which 75% should be for social / affordable rent and 25% intermediate, in accordance with the council’s Strategic Housing Market Assessment (GL Hearn, May 2015).

b. A contribution towards affordable housing will be expected on housing sites capable of delivering 11 units or more gross or which have a maximum combined gross floorspace of more than 1000m2.

c. The council will seek a minimum of 35% of all dwellings to be affordable on a site when negotiating on individual residential and mixed-use schemes. The council will have regard to:

  1. individual site costs.
  2. economic viability.
  3. the availability of public subsidy.
  4. any other scheme requirements.

d. The council will expect the affordable housing contributions for developments of 11 units or more gross to be made on-site but, in exceptional cases, where it can be demonstrated that it would be more beneficial to the council’s affordable housing objectives, the council may accept the provision of affordable housing off-site, or a payment in lieu.

e. Where schemes are brought forward for ten or fewer dwellings, the developer will need to satisfy the council that:

  1. the proposal does not represent an underdevelopment of the site having regard to the character of the area, the level of public transport accessibility (PTAL rating) and the London Plan Density Matrix (see Policy 7 Housing Density).
  2. a large site is not brought forward in phases to avoid the threshold at each stage. In such circumstances, the council will apply the affordable housing target to subsequent phases based on the capacity of all phases, including those already permitted or built.

For more information please see the Local Plan 2016-2031