Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Accepted
Local communities require greater transparency on how CIL receipts are spent.
Conclusion
It is important that existing local communities and new residents see the benefits of development, with new local and regional infrastructure being delivered alongside housing. This is especially the case when local authorities choose to pool CIL receipts to deliver large infrastructure projects. Whilst the Government should encourage local authorities to deliver strategic infrastructure using CIL receipts where appropriate, it must provide support for all local authorities to publish Infrastructure Funding Statements (IFSs) annually, to ensure residents can see how CIL receipts are spent. Local planning authorities must also ensure their IFS considers plans for public sector investment in infrastructure, including from borough and county councils, alongside new major developments. (Conclusion, Paragraph 88)
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledged viability pressures in London, highlighted existing affordable housing levels, and referenced a new package of support for housebuilding in London, including a new planning route to incentivise build out.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
76. While viability pressures are impacting residential development in many parts of the country, we know they are particularly acute in London. Those pressures were already resulting in proportions of affordable housing being reduced on schemes following viability assessment. According to GLA monitoring data, the average affordable housing level of referable applications that have been approved through their viability tested route was 20 per cent between 2022–2024. 77. To address this, the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London announced a new package of support for housebuilding in London that included developers to access a new, time-limited planning route to incentivise build out. This will sit alongside the existing Fast Track and Viability Tested routes and will enable developers to secure planning permission without a viability assessment on private land where they commit to 20 per cent affordable housing (60% of which must be Social Rent), of which half will be eligible to receive grant funding, with a gain-share mechanism to increase affordable delivery on sites that continue into the next decade where market conditions improve. Details of the package were set out in a policy statement published on 23 October 2025, available here: Support for housebuilding in London - GOV.UK. 78. The new threshold is supported by flexibility: the review mechanism allows for uplift where viability improves. All funds recovered through the review mechanism will be ringfenced for affordable housing delivery. 79. Our engagement with the sector indicates that these measures will encourage schemes to come forward, and existing schemes to progress, in the near-term, and will thereby support a rapid recovery in housing delivery. It is designed to increase overall housing supply, recognising that in many boroughs, no new affordable homes are being built at all. In 2023– 24, affordable housing starts in London fell to just 3,156 – down from over 26,000 the year before. 80. The consultations for the measures in the package opened in November 2025 and closed on 22 January. You can find the MHCLG led consultation on CIL and Mayoral planning powers here: Support for housebuilding in London - GOV.UK and the GLA led consultation on the new time limited planning route and density policies here: Support for Housebuilding LPG | London City Hall 81. The Government is committed to working in partnership with the Mayor of London boroughs, and wider partners to significantly increase housing delivery in London and meet these ambitions. 21