Minister unveils proposals to boost affordable housing as London Plan gets go-ahead
The government has at last taken steps to help councils break through the planning log-jam.

Housing and planning minister Keith Hill launched a long-overdue consultation on planning gain last Thursday.

The consultation runs until 31 October and covers planning policy guidance note PPG3 and planning circular 6/98.

However, the government has once again postponed consultation on the section 106 regulations, which also govern planning gain, until after the summer at least.

The PPG3 and circular 6/98 study's main points include:

  • the minimum number of houses that sites must include in order to qualify for planning gain to be reduced from 25 to 15
  • councils to be able to press for planning gain from any development if they can justify it through their local plan
  • councils to be able to specify the housing tenure of affordable housing built under planning gain agreements
  • councils to be expected to reclassify vacant commercial land as property space unless they can show a valid reason not to.

Merron Simpson, head of policy for the Chartered Institute of Housing, welcomed the move to lower planning gain thresholds but added: "We can't really see the need for a threshold at all."

Housebuilders, though, said such a policy would be be very unpopular and might lessen the supply of housing. David Green, senior associate at development consultancy NAI Fuller Peiser, said: "It'll just mean many private developers are put off from doing small housing schemes that now just won't stack up financially."

Meanwhile, it looks as though London mayor Ken Livingstone's controversial plans to double the number of affordable homes built each year in the capital could be in place by December.

He hopes to use his London Plan to set a target for new developments across all London boroughs to include 50% affordable housing.

The plan was endorsed by an independent scrutiny panel earlier this week and is now to be submitted for approval to deputy prime minister John Prescott.

This is expected to be given in September with no major alterations.

A final version of Livingstone's London Plan is likely to be printed by December.

Regional study backs plans for milton keynes

Controversial plans for the government's Milton Keynes growth area have emerged largely unscathed from a major regional planning study. The draft development strategy for the Milton Keynes/South Midlands growth area, published last Friday, found that more than 150,000 homes could be built over the next 20 years. However, it also said substantial investment in infrastructure such as roads and schools would be needed to sustain the growth. The study was done by three regional planning bodies: the East of England, the South-east and East Midlands. It broadly supports the finding of a 2002 report by consultant Roger Tym & Partners. The subregional strategy, which will now go out for a 12-week period of public consultation, said that 10,600 homes could be built in the Aylesbury area by 2016 and, by 2021, 19,000 homes could be built in the Bedford area, 40,000 could be built around Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough, 20,600 around Luton and Dunstable, 33,900 around Milton Keynes and 29,400 around Northampton.

Source

Housing Today