Out-Law News 2 min. read
23 Jun 2016, 2:06 pm
Respondents to the consultation have also recommended several additional exemptions from a proposed national requirement for delivering starter homes.
The Department for Communities and Local Government published a technical consultation document in March, detailing the government's proposed approach for the starter homes regulations. The consultation remains open until 30 June, but several bodies have already published their responses online.
Commercial real estate sector representative body the British Property Federation (BPF) said in its submission (6-page / 412 KB PDF) that the proposed requirement for sites of over 10 homes to include 20% starter homes would be "broadly achievable … across the country". However the BPF warned that imposing this figure would make development "impossible" in some areas and that it would be "the norm" to avoid delivering starter homes on viability grounds in areas with low demand and high costs for decontaminating land and providing infrastructure.
The representative bodies for the housing profession and housing associations, the Chartered Institute for Housing (CIH) (6-page / 314 KB PDF) and the National Housing Federation (NHF) (11-page / 155 KB PDF) both considered that starter homes targets ought to be set by local authorities, based on their assessment of local housing needs.
The Planning Officers Society (POS) (5-page / 118 KB PDF) and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) (7-page / 91 KB PDF) also expressed a preference for local planning authorities deciding how to meet affordable housing requirements in their own areas. Should a starter homes requirement be imposed centrally, both agreed that a 15% requirement would allow for other types of affordable housing to be delivered alongside starter homes. The CIH also said in its submission that the government's proposed 20% requirement was "very high".
Respondents were generally supportive of proposals to allow exemptions from the starter homes requirements for affordable-led schemes, including estate regeneration, and for student housing and certain types of supported housing. The BPF suggested sites with high infrastructure costs should also be exempt, the NHF recommended an exemption for retirement homes and the CIH said all developments in settlements of less than 3,000 homes should not be required to contribute towards starter homes.
The proposed exemption on viability grounds was also supported. The BPF and the NHF both said the government should bring forward guidance setting out a standard methodology for viability calculations.
Respondents also called for clarification on how and when the proposed regulations would come into effect. The NHF warned uncertainty and delays could be caused if developers were allowed to renegotiate section 106 agreements after the regulations come into force. The RTPI said the government should consider a transitional period of "around one year" in which applications submitted would not be affected by the regulations and the POS suggested LPAs should be given 18 months to review the affordable housing policies in their local plans.
Planning expert Elizabeth Wiseman of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "It is no secret that development in some parts of the country is more viable than others. Therefore it is a logical conclusion that developments in different parts of the country will be able to deliver different levels of starter homes. The government does not currently appear to be following this logic and even in the face of reservations from the House of Lords has stuck to its guns in requiring a set percentage of starter homes across all developments."
"This has clearly raised concerns within the industry and rightly so – 20% is a high figure to reach. Currently there are many developments which fail to deliver 20% affordable housing on viability grounds and in addition to the 20% requirement there will still be community infrastructure levy charges and affordable housing requirements to meet. Whether exemptions, particularly on viability grounds, will be built into the Regulations will be a key concern not only from a developer’s point of view but also local authorities who have the task of meeting the needs of their local communities," Wiseman said.