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Cross-party councils’ challenge to new housing policies ends with High Court quashing “government gift” to developers (10 August 2015)

Date: 10/08/2015
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Cross-party councils’ challenge to new housing policies ends with High Court quashing “government gift” to developers

A High Court ruling has quashed the government’s plans to “banish the blight” of empty buildings to boost house building – and release developers from stealth taxes which “hinder regeneration”.

The Guardian reports that government policies have now been withdrawn, after a High Court challenge brought by West Berkshire and Reading councils.

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis introduced the “vacant building credit” in November 2014, which would have allowed developers to convert empty buildings into housing, without making Section 106 contributions for affordable homes.

The government said the policy would allow empty buildings to be brought back into use.

However, the proposals offered no guidelines on how long a building had to be empty for before developers could build on the site.

The policy raised fears that, as a result, there might be widespread evictions and loss of workspace, with councils potentially losing out to developers if were not obliged to build affordable homes.

Director of planning at the City of Westminster, John Walker, had described the policy as “insane” – and a “government gift” to developers.

A second policy also introduced in November introduced an exemption from Section 106 contributions for any scheme of ten homes or fewer.

The majority of planning applications in many boroughs involve ten homes or fewer, as “in-fill” and “pull-down” schemes comprising a small number of units make up the bulk of new homes being built.

As a result, developers of luxury housing projects would have been free to profit further from the policies, with local authorities “powerless” to claw back any uplift in value.

Planning expert at the University of Northampton, Bob Colenutt, said the High Court ruling was a “very important victory for localism”.

“It shows that if a local authority has gone through a proper consultation process and produced a local plan – it can’t just be overridden by a central government diktat,” Mr Colenutt said.

“It shows that local plans matter – with real policies driven by housing need, rather than the misguided whims of ministerial guidance.”

The councils which brought the action to challenge the government’s policies – West Berkshire and Reading – are on opposing sides of the House of Commons, with West Berkshire being a Conservative council and Reading being a Labour council.

In London, the executive member for housing at Islington Council – Councillor
James Murray – said the council had been preparing its own challenges to the government’s housing proposals. Commenting on the High Court ruling he said that it was “really good news”.

However, Cllr Murray warned that the fight for affordable housing was “not over yet”.

“We may have won this battle,” he said. “But there is an almighty war ahead with the government.

“Their vision of planning is a reckless free-for-all, where land values are allowed to go through the roof.”

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