Two recent articles (by Roy Pinnock) discuss the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 (G&IA) amendments to section 106 of the 1990 Act which now allows developers to section 106 affordable housing obligations on viability grounds.
Planning By Numbers (Estates Gazette, 17 December 2013) reviews how the challenge process will work, including the opportunity for exploiting weaknesses in the scheme by developers and ways of reducing risks for authorities.
Please see http://www.dentons.com/en/insights/articles/2014/january/20/planning-by-numbers
The second article (Planning Magazine, 17 January 2014) reviews the first appeal to take advantage of the Section 106BC appeal route (APP/W1145/Q/13/2204429) which involved plans for 151 homes at the former Holsworthy Showground in Devon. Redrow Homes achieved a reduction from 40 per cent affordable housing proportion to 23%. The local authority had failed to determine Redrow’s section 106BA application within the 28 days allowed, and Redrow appealed under section 106BC. The article highlights some of the main features of the case, including whether it did what the new provisions required.
Please see http://www.dentons.com/en/insights/articles/2014/january/20/viability-reviewed-in-appeal-test-case
