§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will encourage local authorities and housing associations to build a range of properties with varying numbers of bedrooms in agreements made under section 106 of t he Town and Country Planning Act 1990. [136630]
§ Keith HillPlanning Policy Guidance Note 3 "Housing" (March 2000) requires local planning authorities to provide wider housing opportunity and choice, and a better mix in the size and type of housing than is currently available.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister recently published for consultation proposed changes to the current policies on planning for housing mix set out in PPG3. The consultation document "Influencing 1 he Size, Type And Affordability Of Housing" proposes that local planning authorities should plan to meet the housing requirements of the whole community by planning for a mix of housing types and sizes that reflects up-to-date assessments. It proposes new policy which would allow local planning authorities, where appropriate local plan policies are in place, to reject developments that conflict with the objective of widening housing choice.
798WA local planning authority can secure a range of sizes of housing either by granting permission to a planning application or by attaching a planning condition, where this information is not provided by a planning application. Alternatively, notes could be appended to an outline permission to give the developer guidance as to what precise form of development will be acceptable to the local planning authority. A section 106 agreement can be employed to secure that some of the housing for which planning permission has been granted must be affordable housing, and the agreement can specify the type of that housing.