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Appeal Court upholds Section 106 waiver
– move could unlock thousands of
new home starts
17th May 2016

A ‘serious barrier’ to thousands of new home building schemes was lifted this week with the Appeal Court ruling that smaller developments can go ahead without being forced to include affordable housing provision.

The ruling, upholding housing minister Brandon Lewis’s 2014 statement that planners could not impose affordable housing contributions in small developments, was immediately welcomed by all new-build trades.

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said: “These contributions are prohibitive for many smaller developers, killing off thousands of otherwise viable schemes, and acting as a serious barrier to expansion. We welcome the Appeal Court’s decision to confirm the Government’s right to waive Section 106 affordable housing contributions for sites of ten units or fewer.

“It’s widely recognised that if we are tackle the long-term undersupply of new homes in this country, then we will need to see renewed growth in output from SME house builders. Today’s verdict will go a long way in backing these firms. It will make the economics of small scale development that much easier and should increase the use of small sites in sustainable locations for the delivery of new homes.”

He added that nearly half of all SME house builders know of sites they would otherwise be interested in developing, but which they believe would be unviable because of the likely combination of Section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy.

Brandon Lewis himself said the judgement “restores common sense to the system” adding that the case was a waste of taxpayers’ money that slatted new developments from coming through.

West Berkshire Council and Reading Borough Council, which had launched the opposition to the waiver, are now considering options with regard to appeal.

www.fmb.org.uk

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