The lack of any affordable housing being proposed as part of the Westgate development is a scandal and a failure not to use such a convenient city centre site to supply some of the council housing we really need.

Yet the justification for this is shaky. When outline planning permission was given, the reasoning for not including any remotely affordable housing on site was firstly that shops were being proposed on the ground floor of the block of flats so it wouldn’t be appropriate for affordable housing to share that space. Which seems a fair point. Secondly, it was argued that the flats proposed would be unaffordable because the developer wants to ‘maximise values’.

Now that the final detail for the Westgate has come forward the block of flats is proposed to be just flats – with no shops. So it seems that the only remaining justification for not providing genuinely affordable housing here in the city centre is that the developer wants to make a healthy profit. That’s a disgrace.

  • Cllr Sam Hollick Leader, Green Group of councillors