Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

Sustainable provision
Regional Housing Strategy for the East of England: 2005–2010
• significant variations in land price, construction costs, housing needs and property
sale prices across the Region and through time mean that there is no ‘one-size-fitsall‘
that would permit a simple policy for setting subsidy levels from planning gain.
What is a reasonable contribution to affordable housing will differ in each scheme,
and a robust use of s106 policy will need an understanding of the way the housing
market operates locally and of site economics.
• no ‘standard‘ levels of grant funding should be assumed to apply to investment
from the SRHP for any particular scheme, with or without the benefit of planning
gain subsidy. By implication, this requires the use of planning gain through s106 to
be established before the final decision on levels of public grant subsidy (not vice
versa, as was often the case in the past). Since investment from the SRHP will
normally be used in schemes which have been planned as part of the evolving
pipeline, there is every opportunity to consider and negotiate the possible use of
grant in any particular scheme well in advance of the final commitment of
investment, and before the s106 agreement is finalised. Except in the rare case
where the mixes of tenures and building sizes and types is rigidly predetermined,
adjustments can usually be made during the initial planning and design of a scheme
to modify the overall amount of capital subsidy required due to the differential
economics of different housing/tenure types. An ‘open-book‘ approach among
the partners to a s106 agreement is likely to aid efforts to achieve the best balance
among the competing demands on a scheme.
• local planning authorities should monitor the impact of s106 agreements on the
production of new private market housing.
5.58 The recently developed IRS draws on the existing regional strategies to provide a joined-up
statement of regional priorities. The Vision for the IRS is simple, to improve the quality of life
for everyone who lives or works in the East of England.
5.59 The IRS identifies potential areas of conflict between existing strategies. The imperative to deliver
a step-change in housing supply and for everyone to have the chance of a decent home certainly
raises major challenges. The IRS proposes a decision-making hierarchy that can be used to help
deal with some of the potential conflicts.
5.60 The IRS embraces the objectives of the Regional Sustainable Development Framework, but
recognises that this document is in need of some updating and expansion. The IRS also takes into
account the national debate on sustainable development, and the publication of the UK
sustainable development strategy, ‘Securing the Future‘ in March 2005. This is the latest part of
the national policy framework that includes the 2003 ‘Energy White Paper’ and the 2004 ‘Energy
Efficiency Action Plan’.
5.61 Investing in schemes to meet ‘growth‘ will obviously help to deliver the proposed level of growth
to 2021. However, delivering this level of growth will have an impact on the environment. Within
the IRS framework the RHS should aspire to achieving growth with a minimum of no net loss
of environmental assets. The emphasis must be on the density, design and quality of schemes to
minimise environmental impact.
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