PLANS to build an 11-storey block of flats in the centre of Poole have been approved, despite criticism of a lack of any ‘affordable’ housing within them.

BCP Council’s planning committee approved the scheme for Arndale House, off The George roundabout, which would see 128 flats and commercial units replace the existing building.

Councillors said they were “incredulous” that no affordable housing was included but agreed to grant planning permission, saying it complied with council policy.

Poole Property Investments submitted its application for the site, also known as Kingland House, in 2018, originally proposing 225 flats be built.

But this was scaled back after concerns were raised about the size of the development.

The application was brought before the council’s planning committee on Thursday with a recommendation by planning officer Eleanor Godesar that it be approved.

“Given the shortfall of number of homes delivered in Poole, the balance is tilted in favour of sustainable development and granting planning permission,” she said.

Concerns were raised by councillors at the meeting, particularly around the application including no affordable housing.

“I find it absolutely mind-blowing that a development with a value of somewhere in the order of tens of millions of pounds does not generate any affordable housing whatsoever,” councillor Stephen Bartlett said.

This was echoed by councillor George Farquhar who said it was “incredulous” and councillor Marion Le Poidevin who said legislation allowed developers to “wriggle out” of providing any.

But the committee was told that an independent valuation of the development had confirmed the scheme would not be financially viable if it had to make any of the flats available at a cheaper rate.

Instead, councillor Ann Stribley said the site should have been able to accommodate more flats than the 128 proposed, as was outlined in the Poole Local Plan

“We have a shortfall [of new homes] and we are looking at potentially breaching the green belt to put in several thousand because we desperately need to fulfil our requirement,” she said. “So, I’m a bit perturbed that we are only looking at 128 homes when we could have up to 150 here.”

However, committee chairman, councillor David Kelsey, said it was impossible to “just build everything in the town centres”.

“I don’t think we can rush to cram every available house into a development just to avoid building in the green belt,” he said.

“In this case, the fact that they’ve reduced the amount is probably a benefit to the future residents – we can’t just build everything in the town centres.

“Hopefully we’ll never have to build on the green belt but we do have to be mindful of future residents’ abilities to enjoy their properties.”

It was agreed by the committee that there were “no policy reasons to refuse the application” and it voted to grant planning permission.

But a clause has been added to the approval, requiring the finances of the scheme to be reviewed once work starts to see whether affordable housing provision could become viable.