Revised plans for 15 new flats in Watford town centre have been given the go-ahead - but there are question marks about whether the development will deliver any affordable housing.

The flats and two commercial units in The Parade were approved by Watford Borough Council's planning committee on April 14, on the basis five of the flats will be set aside as affordable housing.

However, the applicants say they have struggled to find a registered provider to buy the affordable flats, despite approaching 13 separate providers.

Councils are under pressure to deliver affordable housing, but developers can get away with providing affordable housing if they can produce a viability assessment which proves their development would not be profitable enough if they were to provide cheaper homes.

Instead, developers agree to pay sums to the council, which help pay towards providing affordable housing elsewhere.

But in this particular case in The Parade, a revised planning application saw an affordable housing provision sum of just over £1 million to the council drop to just over £400,000.

The applicant, Aimrok Developments Ltd, had submitted a viability appraisal suggesting no sum was viable for for the development.

At last Wednesday's meeting, councillors were told this application was a "unique case" and that building costs had been "significantly higher" than expected.

During the debate, Labour councillor Richard Smith said he had been "disappointed" with the reduced sum suggested while Lib Dem councillor Karen Collett suggested the council could be seen as a "soft-touch".

Cllr Collett's colleague, Cllr Stephen Johnson, formally proposed the review of viability in six months to enable a 'claw-back', if necessary – which was agreed.

He said: "We have got to realise that this is only an issue if the five units aren’t provided by a registered provider. If that doesn’t work, then we have a fall back. And for me, why would the developer appeal a claw-back?

"It would only be if his viability report isn’t correct and he is going to be making more profit than he was expecting."

Further meetings are planned to try and sell five flats to a provider. Council officers acknowledged providers were not keen on properties that had a single access to the property.

Development plans for this site go as far back as June 2016.