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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of encouraging Community Infrastructure Levy contributions in place of S106 Agreements under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for new developments through upcoming planning reforms.

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is not intended to make individual planning applications acceptable in planning terms.

As a result, some site-specific impact mitigation may still be necessary for a development to be granted planning permission.

Some of these needs may be provided for through the levy but others may not, particularly if they are very local in their impact.

There is still a legitimate role for development specific planning obligations, even where the levy is charged, to enable a local planning authority to be confident that the specific consequences of a particular development can be mitigated.

The government is committed to strengthening the existing system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure. Further details will be set out in due course.