Policy vacuum: dont hold your breath

After months of anticipation there has been a flurry of announcements on Planning Policy Guidance Note 3.

First, a new paragraph, 42a, presumes in favour of residential development for redundant buildings and land that were previously used for employment, or on sites allocated for industrial or commercial use in development plans but no longer needed for those purposes.

This is likely to assist in the delivery of housing generally. It may, however, have less of an effect on the delivery of affordable housing, since registered social landlords are already able to compete successfully for these types of site against private developers, relying on local authorities to grant permission for affordable housing as an exception to their normal employment protection policies.

Second, as heralded in an earlier announcement in December 2004, annexe B has been amended to allow local authorities to identify 100%-rural affordable housing sites in local development documents in advance, as well as granting ad hoc planning permission for such schemes.

No more changes to PPG3 have been revealed. Instead, a further consultation paper – Planning for Mixed Communities – has been issued, with comments invited by 15 April. That means another delay before the out-of-date circular 6/98 is replaced.

There are probably a number of reasons for this. One is the continuing debate on planning obligations while suggestions in economist Kate Barker’s report, particularly her proposal for a Planning Gain Supplement, are considered. Concerns among housebuilders alarmed by provisions that would let councils specify the mix, type, size and tenure of housing have also contributed.

In addition, the long-heralded companion documents on good practice in delivering affordable housing and local housing assessments, which will take the place of large sections of 6/98, are still not ready for publication.

Furthermore, I believe it has been recognised that clearer advice on local housing assessments is necessary if local authorities are to assemble more credible housing needs and market information and so justify a more interventionist approach.

The long-heralded documents on delivering affordable housing and local housing assessments are still not ready

So what of the consultation paper itself? The main changes can be summarised thus:

• there is an emphasis on the regional coordination of local housing needs assessments and the scope for cross-boundary, sub-regional studies, involving wider housing market issues
• the economic viability of a proposed development is given greater weight, including making realistic assumptions about the availability of public subsidy
• local authorities are given greater scope to influence the mix of housing, generally on large development sites
• a revised list of factors to be taken into account when negotiating the level of affordable housing, essentially comprising site and market conditions, is itemised
• the normal site-size threshold for negotiating an element of affordable housing is reduced to 15 homes or 0.5 ha
• cascade or fall-back mechanisms are considered appropriate in case public subsidy does not materialise
• the new draft makes it more clear that only rural exception sites must be made available for affordable housing in perpetuity
• the presumption remains that affordable housing will be provided by developers on site as part of a scheme.