Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

22
Strategic policy: planning frameworks
[The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 provides a framework for reform and
improvement of the land-use planning system.]
• The East of England Plan (RSS) will set targets for additional housing provision which
will permit a balance between supply and need throughout the Region, and hence
avoid exacerbating current affordability problems.
• Local Development Documents must be prepared by local planning authorities with
the same aim: ensuring the supply of sufficient land for development.
• Both regional and local planning documents must establish clear expectations
regarding the scale of the various types of affordable housing, related to current
understanding of the relevant housing markets.
• Local policies for the control of residential development must set out clear
expectations regarding the use of section 106 agreements to secure affordable
housing within sustainable communities. These must not only address the
proportion of affordable housing in any housing scheme, but also both the
mechanisms for producing it and the framework for using planning gain or other
public subsidy. They should also address the consequences on the provision of
private market housing.
• The monitoring and review of regional and local plans must pay attention to the
type of housing being produced e.g. volume and share of ‘affordable‘ housing
when considering whether there need to be changes in strategy or policy.
Figure 4. Strategic planning framework
5.15 Local authorities should research and keep a register of land potentially available below market
value to assist in long-term planning of affordable housing supply.
5.16 Infrastructure costs: across the East of England, one of the common restrictions on housing
development is the limited capacity of the infrastructure serving the future residents: transport
networks, sewage treatment, water supply, primary schools etc. Controls often operate to ensure
contributions from developers to the capital requirements for expanding capacity. The object of
this policy is to reduce the burden on the public purse for funding the infrastructure. The level of
contribution from developers can be related in the first instance to the additional infrastructure
costs to meet the new development and its residents. However, these costs will sometimes appear
disproportionately high where current infrastructure is operating near to maximum capacity, and
major capital investment is needed to expand or replace it.
5.17 If applied to affordable housing, this policy merely serves a) to increase the cost of grant subsidy
required to provide the affordable housing, and/or b) reduces the volume of affordable housing by
reducing the subsidy otherwise available for it from planning gain. In either case there is not only
no net benefit for the public purse, but a possible loss through additional administrative costs.
More pertinently, there would be less new affordable housing produced from the public capital
available.