An agreement to provide an affordable home as part of a St Davids housing site could not go ahead as no housing provider wanted to do it, an £82,000 contribution being offered instead, National Park planners have heard.

At the June meeting of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park’s development management committee, members were recommended to back an application by Mr D Madge to modify a Section 1016 legal agreement for a previously-granted housing scheme for 11 dwellings on land off Nun Street and east of Ysgol Dewi Primary School, St Davids.

The granted 2018 scheme included obligations to cover a contribution towards a local play area identified as New Street Play area, and the provision of an on-site affordable housing unit to be transferred to a Registered Social Landlord (RSL).

A report for planners at the June 2024 meeting said: “The application seeks to amend the provision of an affordable housing element from an on-site provision to an off-site provision in the form of a financial contribution towards affordable housing.

“This request is made on the basis that the applicant has approached all the relevant RSLs who operate within this area, and they do not wish to take on the relevant unit of affordable housing as initially required within the original legal agreement.

“Having considered the evidence submitted, Officers consider that a modification to agree to a financial contribution towards off-site affordable housing, in lieu of on-site affordable housing provision, in this instance still serves a planning function and therefore recommends that this modification request be approved.”

St Davids City Council does not support the proposal, raising concerns over the impact on affordable housing provision in the city.

Five letters of objection to the proposal were also received, two raising similar concerns.

An officers’ report says an option of the affordable unit, a first-floor flat, being offered as a form of Low-Cost Home Ownership (LCHO) available to purchase at 70 per cent of open market value had been discounted in part due to management issues of shared land and “potential difficulties for potential purchasers obtaining a suitable mortgage offer from the key mortgage providers”.

Officers and the applicant instead agreed to an off-site affordable housing commuted sum payment of £82,896.96, with hopes the money would be spent on some form of affordable housing in the city.

The report concluded: “Having considered the evidence submitted, Officers consider that a modification to agree to a financial contribution towards off-site affordable housing in-lieu of on-site affordable housing provision in this instance still serves a planning function and therefore recommends that this modification request be approved.”

Local member Cllr Bethan Price said the proposal was “not very popular” with local residents as social housing was needed in the city.

“This is one affordable property; people were looking forward to it in St Davids.”

Officers told members there were “lessons to be learned” from the issue, a point echoed by Cllr Price.

Members backed the recommendation for the commuted sum.