The delivery of affordable housing in Southampton has been “woefully insufficient” to meet the city’s needs, a public inquiry has heard.

Sovereign Network Group (SNG) is appealing the decision of Southampton City Council to refuse planning permission for an 84-home project in Bitterne.

The housing association says it could deliver the scheme on the former St Mary’s Independent School playing fields as 100 per cent affordable, with 42 social rented and 42 shared ownership properties.

On the opening day of the public inquiry on the appeal, James Stacey gave evidence as a witness for SNG on the subject of affordable housing.

Mr Stacey, managing director of Tetlow King Planning, had compiled a detailed 113-page report which featured information on housing delivery in Southampton dating back more than a decade.

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When factoring in the effect of Right to Buy sales and acquisitions, his report said the average number of additional affordable dwellings in the city per year between 2006/07 and 2022/23 was 164.

This presented a significant shortfall when measured against the identified affordable housing need in the city from the most recent assessment, which was published in 2010.

On the first day of the inquiry on Tuesday, November 5, Mr Stacey said: “They are delivering affordable housing units every year. I’m not here to chastise officers.

“They are certainly doing what they can to deliver affordable housing.

“It is just woefully insufficient to cater for the needs that are clearly out there.”

His report contained figures on the size of the housing register waiting list in Southampton, which as of August this year was 8,250 applicants.

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Mr Stacey said it was “quite unusual” that the city council had progressed the creation of a new local plan to set policies without an updated assessment of affordable housing need for Southampton.

In response to comments made by residents opposed to the scheme that 84 affordable homes “barely made a dent” in the city’s housing shortfall, Mr Stacey said: “I would say that that’s not my view.

“The scheme will deliver a very significant number of affordable housing units.

“It is 50 per cent of the annual net supply. That’s averaging 164 units.

“This will deliver 50 per cent of that from a single site.

“I appreciate not all of those units might come forward in one monitoring period but the contribution in comparison to that I say is very significant.”

The proposed housing mix for the development is eight one-bed flats, 24 two-bed flats, 27 two-bed houses, 22 three-bed houses and three four-bed houses.

Jenny Grote, assistant director of new business at SNG, said Southampton had one of the biggest housing waiting lists in the south of England.

She said housing association SNG entered into a subject to planning contract for the site in 2021 after St Mary’s Independent School went into administration.

Ms Grote said the homes would have air source heat pumps and solar panels, delivering lower energy bills for residents.

The eight-day inquiry is being chaired by government-appointed planning inspector John Longmuir.

The application was refused by members of the council’s planning and rights of way panel in March.

Their reasons for refusal were the loss of the open space and playing fields, the design of the scheme and the impact on residential amenity in Monastery Road from increased traffic.