Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Accepted
Protracted Section 106 negotiations causing significant delays to housing delivery.
Conclusion
Local planning authorities across England have expressed concern that protracted Section 106 negotiations are causing delays to housing delivery. Drawn out negotiations do not benefit public outcomes and cause undue delays to development, which may impede the Government’s housebuilding ambitions. Whilst we recognise the Minister for Housing and Planning’s concerns that introducing a dispute resolution scheme may add complexity to the system, we believe the potential benefits to affordable housing delivery and unlocking stalled development outweigh this risk. (Conclusion, Paragraph 54)
Government response summary AI-generated
The Government intends to publish a map of CIL coverage in England, alongside a list of CIL charging authorities in England by region, without accompanying information on rates.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
Mediation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) already play a valuable role in the planning system for specific planning-related issues, including section 106 planning obligations, where negotiating and reaching consensus is required. The existing provisions set out in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 enable parties to have third-party adjudication for unresolved issues regarding the terms of any section 106 planning obligations. We do not intend to implement these provisions at this time because we believe non-statutory guidance and policy – including our work with PAS on improving the section 106 process and proposed changes to the NPPF which are subject to consultation – are likely to have a more immediate impact than implementing primary legislation. We will keep this under review. The draft revised NPPF also re-iterates the importance of good quality pre-application engagement between applicants and LPAs to identify and resolve key matters. These matters include planning obligations for the development, to enable the head of terms for the s106 to be agreed as quickly as possible once the application has been submitted.
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