Book Early!!!

We have been doing development viability for planning contributions for years – more than 600 separate projects and counting.

So, we are beginning to get the hang of it. This is despite the best efforts of the government to make life even more difficult by inventing (for example) new definitions of value based on some fantasy world inhabited by “reasonable landowners”. If ever there was an oxymoron…..

Local authorities also stick their political oars in, with area-wide viability assessments based on the most optimistic scenarios imaginable to justify the planning contributions they want to secure. It looks great politically, especially to nimbies. But it is a barrier to the 100 million new homes the government has promised in the next ten minutes (that is a manifesto pledge by the way).

But, if it weren’t for the central and local government’s economic illiteracy, we wouldn’t have any work, so we usually welcome their interference in what used to be a perfectly workable development market.

We are used to viability, but many of our clients are not. We have written a useful guide on our website (essential bedtime reading), but we thought it might be an idea to outline what you can expect during the viability process.

It’s a bit like having a tooth out – it hurts, so it’s got to be done, and it’s going to hurt when the dentist removes it, but afterwards it will feel much better.

And it takes time. If you work in property development, you will already be familiar with the glacial timescales. Unfortunately, viability is held back by the same fully applied carbon disk brakes.

The latest impediment to getting viability agreed is certain planning authorities not allowing any communication between us and the viability surveyor they have appointed. I’m told that this is to ensure that nothing “underhand” goes on between the surveyors. If that’s the case, it demonstrates a complete lack of trust in the surveyors they appoint.

There are many other obstacles to getting a viability resolved but the one trap that no developer should be caught in is the “time-trap”.

This is where, after many years, you finally have a committee date, but the viability is not agreed. You then have the choice to accept the contributions requested or lose the committee date.

So it really is best to get your viability done well before the committee date and we recommend that clients submit their viability with the initial application. As Fred Pontin said in my childhood – “Book Early!”.

You can get your viability done by someone else, but it won’t be as good, and it will be more expensive (and I’m not just talking about fees!)

Speak soon…….


  • Categories

  • Share on LinkedIn: