Cassidy asks for waiver to unlock stalled Nottingham flats

The firm behind a stalled residential block in Nottingham wants the city council to forego up to £550,000 of developer contributions to make the scheme viable.

Cassidy Group was granted planning permission to build 319 apartments on a 1.6-acre site on Crocus Street, near Nottingham Railway Station, in February 2024.

The site had previously been earmarked for student housing, with a mixed scheme of 569 apartments approved in 2019 but also never started.

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A Section 106 agreement completed after the 2024 approval demanded £554,000 in financial contributions from the developer, which had been reduced from the original policy-compliant contribution of around £2.9m following a viability review.

Now, the firm has applied for a variation to conditions which would see the remaining contributions wiped out, which has been recommended for approval at a meeting of Nottingham’s planning committee on 19 August.

The development was awarded £7.2m from the East Midlands combined authority’s Brownfield Housing Fund earlier this year.

A viability review completed on behalf of Cassidy Group has been submitted to Nottingham City Council, which concludes the “burden of S106 financial contributions” would make the development unviable.

The review is currently being looked over by the city council’s independent assessor, however the local authority’s planning committee been recommended to approve the principle of reducing or waiving the S106 financial contributions pending the outcome of the review.

However, conditions of granting the waiver would include the potential for S106 contributions to be bumped back up to the policy-compliant £2.9m – if the scheme has still not got under way within two years.

“The Cassidy Group, the applicants for both of the above schemes, have recently been awarded a Brownfield Housing Grant of £7.2m by East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) to deliver the [residential development]; however, there remains a funding gap,” said a report due to go before the city’s planning committee next week.

“The developer is therefore seeking to revisit the previously approved S106 with a view to waiving this financial contribution.

“The applicant has submitted an up-to-date viability appraisal that concludes the development would be unviable with the burden of S106 financial contributions, also factoring in the £7.2m grant earmarked from EMCCA. The viability appraisal is currently under review by the Council’s independent assessor and an update will be provided at the meeting,” it added.

A decision will be made by Nottingham City Council on the recommendation on 19 August.

Cassidy Group has been contacted for comment.