Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
(): Today I have launched
two formal consultations on proposals to support measures in the
Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
Infrastructure Levy Technical Consultation
Developer contributions play a vital role in mitigating the
impacts of new development.
The government wants to improve the current system of developer
contributions in England to ensure that communities receive a
fairer contribution of the profit that typically accrues to
landowners and developers. We want to end protracted negotiation
of section 106 agreements which hold up development and create
confusion about what infrastructure will be provided and what
levels of affordable housing will be delivered.
Through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, the Government is
seeking powers to create a new Infrastructure Levy in England.
Through the Levy we are aiming to create a swifter, more
transparent and streamlined system to fund the provision of
affordable housing and important infrastructure such as schools,
roads, active travel routes and GP surgeries that support new
development.
The detailed design of the Levy will be set out in regulations.
Today I have launched a technical consultation which will inform
the development of the detailed policy that will be set out in
those regulations. A further consultation will be carried out on
the draft regulations when they are ready and before they are
made.
This consultation closes on 9 June 2023.
Environmental Outcome Reports
Over the past 50 years, much of the UK’s wildlife-rich habitat
has been lost or degraded and many of our once common species are
in long-term decline. This is despite efforts to address
environmental issues using tools such as the EU derived systems
of strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact
assessment.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill contains powers to bring
forward a new framework for environmental assessment. The
proposals are designed to make sure that the value and rigour of
environmental assessment is retained and improved, while allowing
us to push for better environmental outcomes.
The EU derived processes of assessment are overly bureaucratic
and lack transparency. Users have told us reports are
inaccessible and cumbersome, with important details lost in the
thousands of pages. There is too much uncertainty in the process,
and gold-plating driven by fear of legal challenge results in
excessive reporting rather than clarity about the genuine effects
of development on the environment which should be of concern to
the decision-maker and communities. In combination, these issues
with process have diluted, and undermined, the original purpose
of assessment as a tool for protecting the environment.
In the new system, Parliament will set clear environmental
outcomes against which projects must be considered, introducing
clarity and certainty for everyone involved in the process. The
reforms will streamline and simplify the assessment process and
address the issue of risk aversion by being clear what assessment
should cover, and how assessment should be carried out.
This consultation sets out how these powers could be used to
ensure Environmental Outcome Reports deliver on our ambition to
leave the environment in a better state than we found it.
Feedback from this consultation will be used to progress the
development of the new assessment framework.
I have also taken this opportunity to publish our
post-implementation reviews of the Town and Country Planning
(Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, and the
Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment)
Regulations 2017.
This consultation closes on 9 June 2023.
