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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling alms houses to access section 106 funding and Community Infrastructure Levy in the same way as housing associations.

It is up to local planning authorities to determine what contributions should be sought through Section 106 agreements, in line with statutory tests on their use set out in regulation 122 of the Community Infrastructure Regulations 2010.

Our consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework seeks views on whether changes are needed to the definition of ‘affordable housing for rent’ to make it easier for organisations that are not Registered Providers, including almshouses, to develop new affordable homes. This is intended to inform our approach to National Development Management Policies. The consultation, which closes on 24 September, is published at the following link.