Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department provides to local planning authorities on the treatment of almshouses and other small charitable housing providers in planning obligations, including access to Section 106 agreements; and whether his Department plans to review the definition of affordable housing in the National Planning Policy Framework to better reflect the role of charitable housing providers.

Guidance on the use of planning obligations is available on gov.uk here. The guidance makes clear that policies for planning obligations should be set out in plans and examined in public.

By law, applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) must be taken into account in preparing the development plan and is a material consideration in planning decisions.

The government is consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making.

Whilst the government does not propose to amend the NPPF definition of affordable housing to include almshouses that are not registered providers, the consultation welcomes views on a range of proposals to better support the provision of social and affordable housing.

The consultation will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.