Housing minister Grant Shapps is to write to local planning authorities to urge them to consider rewriting Section 106 (S106) planning agreements where developments have stalled.
Under S106 agreements, developers agree to make a financial contribution to local communities to offset the effects of development in return for planning permission. But Shapps believes that some agreements, signed with developers before the economic downturn, are no longer viable and should be revisited reports regen.net.
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said that the housing minister would shortly write to councils to urge them to consider rewriting the deals.
In a statement, Shapps said: “I am calling on councils to become ‘agents of growth’ for their communities and bring back to life those development sites where housebuilding has stalled.
“This could include reopening negotiations on Section 106 agreements with developers.
“These agreements were negotiated at a time of soaring house prices and are no longer economically viable. In these cases, communities are suffering a double whammy – the homes they need are not being built and neither are the improvements to their local area.”
The news comes ahead of next week’s Budget, which is expected to include a set of measures to reform the planning system in a bid to boost economic growth.
So lets be very clear, what they are say they are going to offer us a bribe so they can what they like.
bribery act 2010 come into place there i think.
Without a commitment by developers to fitting in Community Hubs / Road Systems and Utility requirements the sprawl will continue. Easy money again with no commitment. Thurrock has suffered enough from developers leaving nothing for the community.
So developers have to give Section 106 money to the local council to improve the infrastructure of the community they stick their housing estates in.
But the Conservatives want to scrap this because of the economic downturn.
So big housing estate and no cash to improve roads and schools. Thanks.
There is an obvious theme developing here. The Government and big business want to dump thousands of new homes in Thurrock under the guise of regeneration. New housing is always seen as a good thing (big profits for housing companies, loads of lovely extra council tax for the council) whilst improvements to the infrastructure or improvements made purely for the benefit of existing residents count for absolutely nothing at all. This whole issue has nothing to do with regeneration, nothing at all. If the developers get their way, Thurrock will have arrived, sitting in its handcart, in Hell.