Officers back removing all 8 affordable flats from the 41-home Theobald Street scheme in Borehamwood. Councillors decide on Thursday 8 October at 6pm.
A block of 41 flats approved for Theobald Street in Borehamwood is set to lose all eight of its affordable homes. Hertsmere’s planning officers are recommending that councillors agree to the change at the Planning Committee on Thursday 8 October.
The new developer, Mandale Homes, says the scheme cannot be built with the affordable flats included. The council’s own viability adviser agrees. If councillors accept the recommendation, every flat on the site would be sold on the open market.
What was approved, and what would change
Planning permission for the site at 26 to 30 Theobald Street was granted on 8 October 2024, under reference 23/1775/FUL. The officers’ report for Thursday sets out what that permission allows:
- a part three, part four and part six storey block of 37 flats, with a ground floor commercial unit facing Theobald Street
- a three storey block of four flats with parking underneath
- 10 car parking spaces in total, seven of them in the undercroft
- demolition of the light industrial units and garages now on the 0.51 hectare site
The site sits at the northern end of Glenhaven Avenue, next to the Grove Medical Centre and Halfords. The report says the previous applicant offered eight affordable flats “voluntarily at reduced profitability”. That was even though its own figures had shown affordable housing was not viable. The offer was written into the original section 106 legal agreement.
The new application, 25/1512/VOC, asks for two things. The first is a set of design changes, including grey steel roofs, an external escape stair and a redesigned smaller block. The second is a deed of variation that would strip the eight affordable flats out of the legal agreement. The total of 41 homes stays the same.
Hertsmere’s policy CS4 asks for 35% affordable housing on sites of this size. On 41 homes, that would be about 14.
What the viability figures say
The council asked the consultants AspinallVerdi to check the developer’s figures. Their February 2026 assessment is published on the planning file.
Its findings, in short:
- With the eight affordable flats, the scheme falls £551,959 short of the agreed land value benchmark.
- With every flat for private sale, the shortfall drops to £312,127.
- That second version still leaves the developer a profit of about 15.7% of the scheme’s value, against a 17.5% target. The adviser says it understands Mandale Homes is willing to build at the lower profit.
- The developer’s own figures were worse: a shortfall of £766,173 with the affordable flats, and £330,645 without.
The flats are valued at £600 a square foot, and the total scheme at about £17.7 million. Going fully private also raises the scheme’s Community Infrastructure Levy bill, from £614,874 to £713,427.
The adviser added a caveat. Its sensitivity tests found that if sale prices rose 5% and build costs fell 5%, the original scheme with the affordable flats would become viable. It recommended that any review mechanism should look at the actual sale prices achieved and the actual costs. That would let the council share in any upturn.
The officers’ report lists the obligations that would carry over into the new legal agreement. It does not mention a review mechanism. They are:
- a carbon offset payment, which the report puts at £58,700
- £52,968 to the NHS for primary healthcare
- £279,866 to Hertfordshire County Council for sustainable transport
Why it is back before councillors
The application was deferred at the August Planning Committee. That followed the publication of a new National Planning Policy Framework, and councillors wanted its effect on viability considered first.
The report says the adviser looked at the 2026 framework and found it did not change the position. Officers add that the borough’s adopted viability evidence dates from 2012. The new viability study for the emerging Local Plan has not yet been published in full.
Few people responded to the application. The council notified 263 neighbours. It received two objections and one letter of support. The objection quoted in the report came from the neighbouring medical centre, about noise, dust and infection control. Officers say the approved construction and dust management plans deal with those concerns.
What it means for you
- If you want to speak at the meeting, ring Democratic Services on 020 8207 7550 between 10am and 4pm on Thursday 8 October. The agenda frontsheet allows one speaker for and one against each application, for three minutes each, first come first served.
- The meeting starts at 6pm at the Civic Offices on Elstree Way. Hertsmere usually webcasts meetings on its YouTube channel.
- If you are on the housing register, these eight flats will not now come forward if the change is agreed. Hertsmere’s own nine social rent homes at Catterick Way are due to finish in the coming months.
The decision follows the NatWest House co-living plans on Shenley Road, where officers told the applicant affordable housing was “unlikely to be sought”. Our Borehamwood planning news page tracks the town’s big schemes.
Also on Thursday’s agenda
Two other applications go to the same meeting. In both, the council itself is the applicant or the landowner.
- 63 Bairstow Close, Borehamwood: the council wants to split one of its own houses into two homes, removing front and rear extensions the officers’ report calls “potentially unlawful”. Both homes would be let at affordable rent through Hertsmere Living Limited. Officers recommend approval.
- The White Hart, South Mimms: listed building consent for bespoke timber windows and a rebuilt northern boundary wall at the Grade II listed, council-owned building. South Mimms is about four miles north-east of Borehamwood, near Potters Bar. The officers’ report recommends consent.
We will report the decisions after the meeting.
Have your say