Affordable housing contributions

[Temp]

You might recall that the government wanted to exempt developments of less than 10 houses but were challenged in court and lost.

According to the Law Report in today's The Times the government has won its appeal.

So if you are about to pay or sign an  S106 affordable housing contribution perhaps worth holding off for awhile. 

More on this when I get back to my PC. I can't type much on this pesky tablet.

 

 

 

[Ferdinand]

This is actually (now I look) about 4 weeks old as a decision.

From Planning Resource 20 May 2016:

"Last week the Court of Appeal quashed a landmark High Court ruling that had overturned the government's affordable housing exemption policy last year. The policy stated that sites of under ten units or less than 1,000 square metres of floorspace should not be eligible for affordable housing contributions.

In their High Court challenge, West Berkshire and Reading Councils had successfully overturned a 2014 ministerial statement that introduced the exemption into national Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) and the policies were removed.

However, following an appeal by the government, the Court of Appeal has now quashed the grounds on which the High Court case was won. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said the ruling "restores" the policy, which would help smaller builders. The two councils said they are "considering their options with regard to appeal". Stuart Crickett, associate director at planning consultancy WYG, said: "The government can once again amend the PPG to bring the former policies back into force.

Experts said a key aspect of the latest judgment was its suggestion that, despite the positive outcome for the government, authorities have the power to resist the national exemption through their local plans. Court of Appeal judges said the councils' argument that the wording of the 2014 policy meant it should be applied in a "blanket fashion" was misplaced, and that the High Court judge had wrongly "conflated what the policy says with how it should be deployed". "

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Awww.planningresource.co.uk%2Farticle%2F1395374%2Faffordable-homes-small-sites-ruling-means&oq=cache%3Awww.planningresource.co.uk%2Farticle%2F1395374%2Faffordable-homes-small-sites-ruling-means&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.1295j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

and from May 11th 2016

"The Court of Appeal in London today backed government plans to exempt small development sites from the need to have affordable housing included on them.

Reading Borough Council and its neighbour West Berkshire District Council claimed that the new policy, introduced in a ministerial statement in November 2014, would drastically reduce the amount of affordable housing across the country by more than 20 per cent.

And they claimed that it would have a particular impact in their areas, as well as providing a windfall to landowners and developers."

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Awww.planningresource.co.uk%2Farticle%2F1394534%2Fcourt-backs-government-plans-exempt-small-sites-affordable-homes-obligations&oq=cache%3Awww.planningresource.co.uk%2Farticle%2F1394534%2Fcourt-backs-government-plans-exempt-small-sites-affordable-homes-obligations&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.1260j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Ferdinand

Edited June 6, 2016 by Ferdinand

[Oz07]

Obviously there is no recourse if you signed the 106 when they were valid?

 

I signed one earlier in the year typical luck!

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, Oz07 said:

Obviously there is no recourse if you signed the 106 when they were valid?

 

I signed one earlier in the year typical luck!

I would check that .. Were they in fact valid when you signed it? It has been a switchback court process so who knows...

They can also be renegotiated in various circs.

Perhaps a quick call to someone like Robin Furby or your planning solicitor if you have one.

http://www.s106management.co.uk/about-us

At worst you could wait for the PP to expire and reapply, but it is horses for courses.

Ferdinand

Edited June 12, 2016 by Ferdinand

[Oz07]

Mine is for open space contributions no idea about the validity of it I will have to spend a few hours looking into it. Interesting though