On 23 October, the Government announced a consultation on wide-ranging temporary changes to address the significant fall in residential scheme starts over the last year or so.
The main changes are:
- A new 'time-limited planning route' is being introduced. This allows schemes on private land to proceed without a viability assessment if they deliver at least 20% affordable housing, of which at least 60% must be for social rent and the remainder for intermediate tenures.
- A temporary relief from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is offered, with qualifying schemes committing to 20% affordable housing, which can benefit from 50% borough CIL relief. This incentive reduces upfront costs and encourages developers to start projects sooner.
- Relaxation of policies that restrict density.
- New powers for the Mayor allow the review and call-in of schemes of 50 or more homes, or those on Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land. This aims to support delivery by providing a route for approval that would otherwise be blocked by local refusals.
- The establishment of a £250m Developer Investment Fund.
See link here to the Housing Minister’s Statement and link here for the associated policy note.
The consultation runs for 6 weeks from November.
