Housing white paper to include review of Section 106 deals

Crest Nicholson chief executive Stephen Stone has revealed the government plans to review section 106 and the community infrastructure levy in the forthcoming housing white paper.

The white paper is due to be published in January, with measures included which the government hopes will help it hit its target of building one million homes by 2020.

Speaking to Building editor Sarah Richardson at the Building Live conference in London, Stone revealed he had dinner last week with communities secretary Sajid Javid and said he believes the Tories are planning to “re-open” section 106 and the community infrastructure levy (CIL).

But he criticised the planned measure and said: “It will create chaos again when you want to get planning and want to get building.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Stone also revealed the housebuilder lost £40m in revenue after the Brexit vote, but “made that all up again” from July to October.

Stone said Crest Nicholson saw cancellations hit 35% on the day of the Brexit vote, compared to 11% usually, and also saw reservations drop 35%.

But he said each week since the vote “got progressively better” for the housebuilder and added that the firm was “back to normal” by the end of July.

On the housing market, Stone said: “On a scale of 1 to 10, it is a 10. The market has never been as good as it is today.”