Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help ensure that new housing developments deliver the infrastructure that communities require.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
It is important that new housing development is supported by the provision of infrastructure and appropriate services. Local authorities have responsibilities for planning for local development and the infrastructure to support it.
Where new development is proposed, contributions from developers play an important role in delivering the infrastructure to support communities and local economies. Local planning authorities can use the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 planning obligations (together called ‘developer contributions’) to secure funding from new development to contribute towards the delivery of infrastructure.
However, the existing developer contributions regime is discretionary, subject to negotiation and renegotiations based on developers’ viability assessment.
The Government has proposed to introduce a new ‘Infrastructure Levy’, to replace the existing system of developer contributions, which aims to capture a greater share of the uplift in land value that comes with development. Through the Levy, local authorities will have greater flexibility to determine how contributions are spent to shape and support both existing and new communities.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of annual profits of housing developers; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing section 106 thresholds.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The department has compiled the data based on published reports in the table below, this shows the profits developers made over the last three years.
Rank | 2020 Top 10 | 2018 Profit | 2019 Profit | 2020 Profit* |
1 | Barratt | 862.6 | 901.1 | 493.4 |
2 | Persimmon | 1082.7 | 1029.4 | 783.5 |
3 | Taylor Wimpey | 804.9 | 832.7 | 274.5 |
4 | Bellway | 652.9 | 674.9 | 249.1 |
5 | Vistry | 174.2 | 181.5 | 125.8 |
6 | Berkeley | 817 | 768.4 | 469.7 |
7 | Redrow | 382 | 411 | 148 |
8 | Bloor | 178.1 | 190 | 160.7 |
9 | Countryside | 211.4 | 234.4 | 54.2 |
10 | L&Q | 56 | 79.3 | 87.7 |
** *Profit in 2020 would have been affected by Covid
Local planning authorities use the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 planning obligations (together called ‘developer contributions’) to capture a proportion of the increases in land value that occur as a result of planning permission being granted. There are a range of estimates for the amount of land value uplift currently captured, from 25 to 50 per cent, and in 2018-19, £7 billion was agreed through developer contributions.
However, the existing developer contributions regime is discretionary, subject to negotiation and renegotiations based on developers’ viability assessment.
Over 80% of local authorities consider that Section 106 planning obligations create a delay in the granting of planning permission, and over 60% believe that this slows development completion.
The Government has proposed to introduce a new ‘Infrastructure Levy’, to replace the existing system of developer contributions, which aims to capture a greater share of the uplift in land value that comes with development. Through the Levy, local authorities will have greater flexibility to determine how contributions are spent to shape and support both existing and new communities.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to complement the £1.5 billion Brownfield Fund with planning policies to support the creation of (1) homes, (2) jobs, (3) transport, and (4) infrastructure.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The planning system is a key enabler of the Government’s wider mission to level-up the country and regenerate left-behind places. We’re committed to making the most of brownfield land, in line with our policies in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which sets out that planning policies and decisions should give substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land.
As set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, the planning reforms will include improvements to compulsory purchase powers to enable more effective land assembly, further support the re-use of brownfield land to deliver the homes and development this country needs, and adopt a more positive approach to employment land in national policy to support the provision of jobs. The NPPF sets out that transport should be considered from the earliest stages of planning to make sure that impacts, existing provision, sustainable transport, environment, and design are recognised and addressed. We are exploring the introduction of a new infrastructure levy which will enable local authorities to capture value from development more efficiently, securing the affordable housing and infrastructure communities need.
The Government is continuing to consider what wider reforms of planning to pursue, and an announcement on next steps will be made shortly.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department will take to assess whether the Environmental Land Management scheme is contributing towards the Government’s environmental goals.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Environmental Land Management schemes are being designed to contribute to a suite of measurable objectives to support the delivery of government priorities, including the targets which are due to be set under the Environment Act. We will be carrying out a programme of annual monitoring across a sample of agreements to ensure that actions are delivering both value for money and the intended outcomes. This monitoring will begin during the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot in 2022.
The methods for gathering our evidence base will combine established data collection techniques, including expert led farm/field surveys, with increased use of technology, including earth observation and remote sensing where appropriate. This will enable us to establish baselines and environmental change across a range of indicators in line with scheme objectives. Indicators will encompass a number of different spatial and temporal scales to capture the changes that occur as a result of the schemes. Some indicators will focus on changes at an action level where others will look at impacts across landscapes. Indicators for the Environmental Land Management Programme are aligned with the 25 Year Environment Plan indicators which monitor overall environmental delivery against the government’s strategic goals for environmental improvement.
We are also working closely with national monitoring programmes such as Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment to make use of existing and planned widescale environmental data collection. Data collection outside of agreements will provide valuable counterfactual information to enable us to establish changes that have resulted from scheme activities.
Alongside the national scale monitoring of schemes and environmental delivery, we will be continuing a programme of bespoke research and development projects as part of the Agri-environment Scheme Monitoring and Evaluation Programme. This long running programme assesses specific aspects of environmental delivery and will feed into policy design and improvement. As environmental outcomes can take longer to deliver, we will also be utilising modelling approaches to supplement data collection and provide additional insights.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effects of changes to the Green Book on the viability of proposed railway enhancement schemes; and whether there will be a greater emphasis on benefits related to regeneration and access to employment for people living in economically deprived areas.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Transport business cases (including those for proposed railway enhancement schemes) follow the HM Treasury five case business case model. Decisions are informed by the assessment of the scheme in relation to strategic fit, value for money, deliverability, commercial and financial considerations. The appraisal framework set out in the department’s Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG) is intended to support scheme promoters capture the full range of impacts associated with transport investment (economic, social and environmental) as part of the economic case. These impacts include agglomeration, labour supply and land use change impacts, as set out in TAG unit A2.1
The department is planning to publish an initial response to the Green Book Review this Spring as part of wider update to business case guidance. This will set out work already in progress to support the appraisal of schemes which meet Government’s strategic priorities and how we plan to implement other changes required by the Review. The department is considering what improvements may be required across business cases to support the Government in delivering on its strategic priorities. This includes ensuring that existing tools and flexibilities in current strategic and economic case guidance are being fully used to support scheme promoters in making the case for investment which supports levelling up. The department’s Rebalancing Toolkit provides guidance to describe how a transport investment scheme fits with the objective of spreading growth across the UK. This tool can be used to assess the impact and identify the benefits that a transport scheme may have on local and regional economic performance. We plan to highlight these flexibilities alongside reviewing existing guidance and ensuring that relevant analysis is presented to decision makers.
The Green Book Review found that existing appraisal practice may lead to a focus on boosting benefit-cost ratios at the expense of analysis which illuminates the impacts of a proposed investment. The department plan to review the existing culture and processes associated with the development of transport business cases to understand and address behaviour and incentives which may be obstacles to supporting the delivery of Government’s objectives.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure developers comply with their obligations under Section 106 agreements.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Section 106 planning obligations are negotiated between a local authority and developer on a case by case basis.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework introduces early and transparent viability assessments. This strengthens the ability of local authorities to make developers deliver their obligations under Section 106 agreements.
We have committed in our response to the HCLG Select Committee on land value capture to report to the Committee by the end of 2019 on the effect of these recent reforms.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Government response to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee report on land value capture, published in November 2018, Cm 9734, when he will plans to publish updated guidancec on compulsory purchase compensation.
Answered by James Brokenshire
My Department will be engaging with compulsory purchase practitioners in the new year to determine the scope of the updates required, with a view to publishing revised guides during the coming year.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement (1) a Land Value Tax, (2) enhanced Compulsory Purchase Orders, (3) land assembly powers, and (4) the recommendations in the report by the APPG on Land Value Capture, Capturing Land Value for the Public Benefit, published in November.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is committed to using existing mechanisms of land value capture as effectively as possible. We have recently introduced major reforms to the planning rulebook to help local authorities capture land value for affordable housing, and make sure developers know the contributions expected of them. At Autumn Budget we also announced further reforms to improve the existing system of developer contributions. The key objectives of these reforms are to make the system of developer contributions more transparent and accountable. However, we recognise more needs to be done, and will continue to explore options to go further. Through the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017, the Government has taken forward wide-ranging reforms to make the compulsory purchase process clearer, fairer and faster for all. We are keen to let these recent reforms bed in but will continue to monitor their practical application. We announced at Budget a £10 million fund to support local authorities that want to establish delivery vehicles that have strong land assembly powers, and in the Summer legislated to enable the creation of locally-accountable New Town Development Corporations. We note the report by the APPG on land value capture, the HCLG Select committee has also recently held an inquiry on Land Value Capture and the Government is due to respond to the Committee’s recommendations shortly.