Responding to calls from Housing & Planning Minister Yvette Cooper for local authorities to make better use of Section 106 agreements to deliver more affordable housing & infrastructure, Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation Stewart Baseley said:
"The research by Sheffield University, on which Ms Cooper’s comments are based, should be treated with considerable caution. HBF’s own analysis, which has been shared with the Department for Communities & Local Government, has shown that the findings of this research significantly underestimate the proportion of residential sites that make a contribution to affordable housing and infrastructure requirements under current Section 106 arrangements.”
“In addition, sites without Section 106 agreements are mostly relatively small. Most larger sites already have a S106 agreement. The remaining smaller sites have only a very limited capacity to contribute to affordable housing or infrastructure through a planning obligations agreement.”
“There are real limits to the contribution any individual development can make to funding objectives such as affordable housing and infrastructure, especially given other significant considerations such as the cost of remediating brownfield land for residential and mixed-use schemes. We must be clear that the real answer to current housing affordability problems is to consistently build more homes so as to balance supply with demand and maximise the scope to make housing more affordable, including low-cost market and intermediate housing options."
Notes for Editors
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the principal trade federation for private sector home builders and voice of the home building industry in England and Wales. The HBF’s 300 member firms account for over 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies. www.hbf.co.uk
The Department for Communities & Local Government’s “Planning Obligations: Practice Guidance” was published today, and is available at http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1500817
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