Court of Appeal judgment removes bureaucracy from small house building projects (12 May 2016)

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis MP has welcomed a Court of Appeal judgment, which restores a government policy to build more homes on small sites.

As a result of the ruling, affordable homes contributions will fall to bigger developers building the largest sites – while smaller builders developing sites of ten homes or less will be able start work on their sites without facing charges that could leave them unable to build any homes at all.

Ministers condemned the challenge to government policy by West Berkshire District Council and Reading Borough Council as “a total waste of taxpayers’ money” – smaller house builders make a significant contribution to helping the government meet its key ambition of delivering one million new homes.

Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis said:

“We’re committed to building more homes, including record numbers of affordable homes.

“Key to this is removing unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy that prevents builders getting on sites in the first place.

“Today’s judgment by the Court of Appeal restores common sense to the system, and ensures that those builders developing smaller sites – including self-builders – don’t face costs that could stop them from building any homes at all.

“This case was a total waste of taxpayers’ money – and the uncertainty the case created among house builders stalled new development from coming through,” said Mr Lewis after the hearing.

“I hope councils focus their time and money on delivering the frontline service that their residents rely on – and helping support new house building in their areas that is very much needed.”

The Court of Appeal’s judgment allowed on all grounds the government’s appeal to a High Court ruling.

The small sites affordable housing contributions policy was introduced in November 2014, to help boost housing delivery and encourage brownfield development. The policy introduced a national threshold of ten units or less – and a maximum combined gross floor space of no more than 1,000 square metres – beneath which affordable housing contributions should not be applied.

The policy was introduced to tackle the disproportionate burden of developer contributions on small-scale developers, custom-builders and self-builders. Larger sites have continued to be subject to affordable housing requirements.

There have been significant policy changes since 2014 to speed up planning and housing delivery, including the government’s commitment to deliver 200,000 starter homes by 2020.

There have also been further reforms to planning obligations and the community infrastructure levy.

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