PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Housing: Construction (6 November 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed expansion of the small sites exemption policy on the supply of social and affordable housing in England.

Asked by:
Dame Siobhain McDonagh (Labour)

To aid small and medium-sized builders through economic recovery, we have consulted on a proposal to increase the current threshold at which affordable housing contributions can be collected on new developments. This proposal would ensure that sites that may not have been developed due to viability issues would go ahead creating the homes our country needs.

Details of the impact of this proposal are set out in the Changes to the current planning system consultation, which closed on 1 October: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-the-current-planning-system

It is important that we consider the consultation feedback thoroughly. We will respond to the consultation in due course.

Answered by:
Christopher Pincher (Independent)
16 November 2020