Fewer affordable homes are being delivered by planning gain than the government needs, says a new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (see page 9). Fancy that. Oh, and most homes will need public money to subsidise them if they are to be built at all, it says. Now there's a surprise.

Housebuilders have never pretended to be the sugar daddies of affordable housing providers, as anyone who has had the pleasure of negotiating section 106 agreements knows. The foundation's report does everyone a favour by reinforcing what really goes on behind closed doors between planning departments and housebuilders.

It's too late in the day to untether the plans of the public sector from the private and besides, if it weren't for section 106, some inner-city sites would never have been viable, as the report points out.

Also on a positive note, the government has noted some of the problems and is moving to tackle them. For example, the public sector faces difficulties simply in knowing how to negotiate planning gain deals. Deputy prime minister John Prescott has already announced funding for training centres for local authorities. The sooner these get going, the better. Councils could help themselves, too, by making sure planners and housing departments actually talk to each other, trying job swaps with housebuilders and calling in negotiation-savvy development directors from housing associations.

Housebuilders have never pretended to be the sugar daddies of affordable housing providers

The government is also mulling over ways to bolster section 106 agreements, having quietly dropped plans to introduce tariffs. One obvious move would be to lower thresholds to where the rules apply. Currently, developments under 25 units don't have to comply; hence the number of schemes with just 24 homes. The government could also encourage authorities to accept other forms of tenure, not just social housing for rent – this might make the difference between a deal stacking up or not, particularly outside the South-east – and to choose social housing in exchange for planning permission rather than other facilities like hospitals or schools.

At least the torpid planning system is, at last, stirring. More land is becoming available in the South-east and housebuilders are taking a more proactive approach to planning gain. Yet two fundamental barriers remain: local opposition to building homes for rent – particularly given the higher densities planners are now supposed to be demanding – and whether there is ultimately enough money in the public pot to go round, even with Prescott's boost for housing grant.

Source

Housing Today