The controversial plan to introduce an optional planning charge – in which a developer could choose to pay a fee rather than negotiating an agreement – is unlikely to be considered in the next 12 months, according to sources.
The existing section 106 agreements allow councils to force developers to build affordable homes in return for planning permission.
The government included the optional charge in the planning bill last October, but social landlords and private developers protested that it would be unworkable and would damage the supply of affordable homes.
A rebellion in the House of Lords, led by Lord Richard Best, director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, ended with Keith Hill committing to consult a ministerial advisory group before implementing the measure.
The ministerial advisory group was set up in March to consider how optional charges could work, but it will now concentrate almost exclusively on improving conventional section 106 agreements. The group was originally due to reach a final conclusion in the autumn.
No official announcement has been made, but a government spokesman admitted that a decision on the planning charge would take far longer than the six months originally expected.
One source said: "The government now wants to deal with just the current system."
The news followed an announcement from the planning minister Keith Hill last Thursday that the ODPM would start a consultation on changes to the existing section 106 in the autumn.
In addition to being unpopular within the industry, the optional charge is seen as potentially irrelevant after Kate Barker's report into housing supply for the Treasury, which recommended a completely separate system for capturing some of developers' profits to invest in local communities.
A government spokesman said: "The government will continue to work up proposals for the optional planning charge on a timetable consistent with Kate Barker's proposals."
The Treasury has said it will not decide whether to implement Barker's proposals until September 2005 at the earliest.
But sources now suggest Hill would rather get the current system right than embark on the new charge, only to see it immediately superseded by Kate Barker's proposals.
Robin Tetlow, director of planning consultancy Tetlow King Planning, said: "The government has finally accepted that it would be ridiculous to execute the planning charge before Barker is resolved."
Source
Housing Today
No comments yet