Development viability assessment and the provision of affordable housing: a game of ‘pass the parcel’?

This paper constructs a hypothetical case study based around the benchmark land value assessments within the landmark Parkhurst Road, London, case decided in the High Court in April 2018. It attempts to illustrate how developers were gaming the system and how the 2014 Planning Practice Guidance aided them to do that. The discussion centres on the extent to which new 2018 National Planning Guidance has addressed the identified flaws and what additional changes might be needed to that guidance to solve any outstanding problems.