Communities that tackle the legacy of inadequate house-building and choose to accept new housing will benefit directly from new generous cash incentives.
Neighbourhoods that take a proactive approach by drawing up a neighbourhood development plan, and securing the consent of local people in a referendum, will receive 25% of the revenues from the Community Infrastructure Levy arising from the development that they choose to accept.
This cash boost will be paid directly to parish and town councils and can be used to back the community’s priorities for example to re-roof a village hall, refurbish a municipal pool or take over a community pub. Neighbourhoods without a neighbourhood development plan but where the levy is still charged will still receive a capped 15% share of the levy revenue arising from development in their area.
Communities without a parish or town council will still benefit from this incentive, with the local planning authority retaining it and spending it in accordance with the wishes of the community.
Instead of hectoring people and forcing development on communities, the government believes that we need to persuade communities that development is in everyone’s interest. Incentives are key to getting the homes built that we both need for today and for future generations.
It is vital this country increases the number of homes it builds to meet the needs of its increasing population. The failure of previous administrations to build enough homes, latterly despite the credit boom, led to a severe housing shortage that has been made worse by the rapid increase in the number of households. The number of people living alone has rocketed, and immigration has led to an influx of 1.7 million people into England in the last decade.
In a bid to tackle this housing shortage and make best use of what we already have the government has invested £160 million to deal with the 250,000 homes empty for more than 6 months - 50,000 fewer then in 2009. This money combined with a share of £300 million announced in September’s housing growth package, will help put more than 15,000 empty homes back into use by 2015.
The government has also made clear that planning should encourage the effective use of land, including brownfield land that is not of high environmental value. The majority of all new homes - 76% of those completed in 2010 - were built on brownfield land. But this will not be enough and some undeveloped land will need to be made available for house-building.
"We have a simple choice," said Nick Boles. “We can decide to ignore the misery of young families forced to grow up in tiny flats with no outside space. We can pass by on the other side while working men and women in their twenties and thirties have to live with their parents or share bedrooms with friends.
"We can shrug our shoulders as home ownership reverts to what it was in the 19th century: a privilege, the exclusive preserve of people with large incomes or wealthy parents.
“Or we can accept that we are going to have to build on previously undeveloped land and resolve that we will make these decisions locally and build beautiful places like we used to.
“This government is determined to persuade communities to accept more house-building by giving them a tangible share of the benefits it brings. By undertaking a neighbourhood plan that makes space for new development, communities can secure revenues to make the community more attractive for everyone.”
Civic crowdfunding, which is being spearheaded by Spacehive.com, an online portal, enables locals to create civic projects and share the cost online. Community centres, parks and even free public wi-fi have so far been funded, with local people and firms, as well as major corporates like Tesco and Deloitte backing projects.
Councils such as Ealing and Mansfield have already embraced crowdfunding with initiatives being run on www.spacehive.com
Spacehive is supported by the BCSC, BPF, Riba and Association of Town Centre Managers.
Andrew Teacher, policy director for Spacehive, said: “The legal framework that underpins localism has an immense amount of flexibility on how neighbourhoods and can operate. The concept of crowdfunding enables cash to be leveraged up – so a £10,000 pot can quickly turn into £50,000 once people chip in.
“With spending on civic projects massively down on pre-2007 levels, more and more communities are taking matters into their own pockets. It will take a while for the public’s mindset to change as, unlike the USA, as a nation, we’re much more reliant on the State.
“For the property industry, the beauty of crowdfunding is that it enhances public space in a way that the community actually wants. Better amenities undoubtedly make places more attractive. While no single thing can fix a place, putting free wi-fi into town centres, creating greenery or adding new kids’ playgrounds draws people in.
“This is a welcome move from the new planning minister that could be the first real sign of localism producing tangible benefits for communities.”
The British Property Federation insisted that the payments should not be considered as “bungs” to the local community, saying that the payments would only be acceptable if spent on infrastructure, as the tax has always been intended.
Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy at the BPF, said: “Giving neighbourhoods a bigger slice of CIL will offer them a further incentive to support jobs and homes in their areas, and provide developers with greater reason to engage in the neighbourhood planning process.
“It is especially welcome that business-led neighbourhoods will now be able to direct how the portion of the CIL collected in their area is spent and so will be able to play a greater role in strengthening their local economy.
“What is crucial, however, is what CIL money is spent on, and that it is spent in a transparent and timely fashion. The status quo, where councils and communities are under no obligation to spend any CIL money on infrastructure, or to any fixed deadline, is simply not good enough. There should be some provisions to make proper use of it.”
