Manchester city council has voted to make public the secret documents used by developers to bypass affordable housing quotas. Labour councils in Greenwich, Bristol and Lambeth have improved transparency by making their viability assessments public. The council said that in the last two years 19 developments containing affordable housing were given planning permission without going through the planning committee because no one objected to them. These developments are set to contain 850 affordable homes – 136 of which will be social housing. Some £10.25m will be used to regenerate the dilapidated Collyhurst council estate, just north of Manchester city centre.

Source: The Guardian March 21, 2018 17:15 UTC