6 August 2015
A court ruling could block the Government’s measures to save people thousands of pounds from the cost of delivering self and custom build projects.
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Former Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced last December that Section 106 charges for people wanting to build their own home or developers looking to build a small number of properties (10 homes or fewer) were to be scrapped. However, in January, West Berkshire Council and Reading Borough Council joined forces to challenge the changes to the planning system. And last Friday a High Court judge found in favour of the councils – quashing numerous paragraphs contained in national planning practice guidance in the process.
Both local authorities challenged the proposals by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to limit the use of Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 so that it could continue to be used to seek contributions from developments under 10 dwellings in urban areas and five dwellings in rural areas in order to mitigate the harm of developments on local infrastructure such as highways and education and to provide affordable housing.
National Custom & Self Build Association Executive Commitee member Jason Orme said: “Given the series of other rulings in favour of individual self builders upholding their exemption from Section 106 contributions, we are surprised and disappointed to learn of more uncertainty for people wishing to build their own homes in the UK. Planning ahead is key to the financial viability of projects and we strongly feel that self builders who, until the late 2000s were never considered appropriate for such payments, may yet again find themselves having to pay thousands of pounds simply to build their own homes.”
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said: “This decision threatens to accentuate the housing crisis by casting a dark cloud on small local builders at just the time when there was evidence of real growth. The likely response is that they will avoid attempting to build on certain sites full stop and because of this, there will be less homes of all description.”
Responding to the ruling the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “We are disappointed by the outcome of the judgement and will be seeking permission to appeal against the judge’s decision. This will have a disproportionate impact on smaller builders [which] are important in providing homes for local communities.”
