Councillors  in Greenwich have nodded through revised plans for 65 new flats after developers came back again asking to change affordable housing levels.

A scheme for two six-storey buildings in 36-38 Artillery Place was signed off in March last year by councillors on Greenwich’s planning board.

Developers have already come back once to change the level of affordable housing, but councillors put their foot down in December last year.

They rejected a change that would have increased the number of shared ownership units from nine to 12, decreasing the number of affordable rents from 14 to 11.

Councillors said at the time: “The evidence and information available fails to adequately demonstrate that the particular exceptional circumstances and characteristics of the site and development justify this revision.”

On Tuesday night (June 18), the developer admitted that financial problems led them to come back again with a revised offer for the council.

The developer put forward an increase of total affordable housing by two, an increase 34 to 48.5 per cent, but scrapped the shared ownership offer.

Councillors said it was worth rejecting the scheme in order to achieve a better offer for those in need of accommodation.

Councillor Linda Bird said: “I am just curious as the percentage of affordable housing has changed so much I wonder why it couldn’t be that way in the first place. What we are being presented with now is so different.”

The developer told councillors it was taking a financial hit to get the scheme off the ground with a housing provider.

A spokesman for the developer said: “We got consent back in March which we tried to implement with a housing provider, and we couldn’t find one to take that proposal.

“We came back with what the housing provider would have liked at the time but that was rejected, and we have had to take a financial hit on the affordable housing which we are willing to take.”