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Government ditches plans to raise small sites threshold for affordable housing
The government has U-turned on proposals to increase the limit at which affordable homes must be included on developments from 10 to 40 or 50.
In response to a consultation on widespread changes to the current planning system, the government confirmed that it would not be pursuing the plan, which housing bodies warned could reduce the supply of affordable housing.
The proposals, published in August 2020, suggested that developers would not have to include affordable housing in plans for sites as large as 40 or 50 homes – up from the current level of 10. The government said the plan would provide additional support for SME builders.
Subsequent analysis by the Local Government Association found that if the plans came into force, the result would be 30,000 fewer affordable homes being built over the course of five years.
Announcing the climb-down, the government said: “On balance, we do not consider this measure to be necessary at this stage, particularly in light of the broader way in which the sector has responded to the challenges of the pandemic and the other measures we have available to support SMEs.
“We therefore do not think any change to existing policy is currently needed.”
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The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said that it will continue to speak to SME builders about the barriers they face, but added that “there are no plans to raise he small sites threshold at this stage”.
Rhys Moore, executive director of public impact at the National Housing Federation (NHF), said on Twitter: “Some good news this morning – affordable housing will continue to be delivered on smaller housing developments.
“Proposed changes would have resulted in significant loss of homes, across rural and urban areas”.
Speaking to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee in November 2020, Kate Henderson, chief executive of the NHF, highlighted the proposals as the federation’s “biggest concern” around the government’s planning reforms.
“This would reduce the supply of much-needed affordable housing and this would be particularly pronounced in rural areas – but not just rural areas,” she said.
According to Ms Henderson, between 2016 and 2019, 70% of affordable homes in rural areas were built through Section 106 agreements.
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