星空传媒

A loophole in the government's proposals for reform to planning obligations could force a dramatic drop in affordable housing provision, Housing Today has learned.

The move has been heralded by one RSL insider as sounding the "death knell for local communities".

A consultation document issued with the planning green paper sets out proposals to scrap the usual 25 per cent negotiated for social housing in new developments in favour of a tariff paid by the developer to the council, which can choose how to spend it.

The sector initially welcomed the tariff concept. But experts who have pored over the detail now warn that such a change could mean a huge downturn in the number of affordable homes secured through the planning system.

Planning consultant Richard Bate, who is advising the National Housing Federation, said he feared "some local authorities may choose a package of proposals which discourage affordable housing", when tariffs are introduced.

The Housebuilders Federation also expressed concern. It said: "We have been stressing that it is better to have 25 per cent of something rather than 50 per cent of nothing.

"We cannot expect a private industry to bail out the country's lack of investment in social housing over the last 30 years."

And Bate added: "How the tariff will work to achieve the objective is a matter on which we wish to further discuss with the government. It is not clear from the consultation paper that the outcome is guaranteed. The scope for variation from one authority to another seems to us so large that authorities could be played off against one another.

Whatever happened to balanced communities?

"I would like to see what proposals the government comes up with for national guidelines to limit these kinds of problems."

But the Housebuilders Federation warned that strict national guidelines could render developments in some parts of the country financially unviable.

There was also concern over the handling of brownfield development in the consultation paper, where developments on "difficult urban brownfield sites" could sidestep the tariff.

NHF policy officer Aaron Cahill (pictured) explained that if brownfield schemes were deemed prohibitively expensive, the tariff could be waived or reduced. RSLs would then be forced to purchase land or property at market rates, without current discounts.

"The system we have now isn't perfect and is inconsistently applied, but it looks better than what is now being proposed," he complained.

A source at a leading housing association told Housing Today: "We feel this consultation paper is a totally retrograde step.