Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the extent to which a new viability system introduced through the updated National Planning Policy Framework and National Planning Practice Guidance would lead to more affordable homes being built in rural England; and what is their estimate of the number of additional affordable homes that will be built.

The Government’s proposed approach to viability in the updated National Planning Policy Framework and associated Guidance will seek to reduce the use of viability assessments, and resulting renegotiation, at the decision making stage. We do not have sufficient data to make an assessment of any increase in the number of affordable homes to be built as a result of the proposal.