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17 Oct 2005 : Column 808W—continued
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
106 Agreements
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment has been made of (a) the average cost of a section 106 agreement to a developer and (b) the regulatory cost of section 106 agreements in each of the last five years. [17444]
Yvette Cooper: The cost to developers of section 106 agreements may vary significantly depending on the type and size of development, its location and local planning policies. The most recent assessment of the value of planning obligations across England was undertaken by Sheffield University in 1999. The study indicated that the average contribution through a planning obligation for a development in the North was £148,000 and in the South was £754,000.
Sheffield University and Halcrow Group are currently carrying out research for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister into the value of planning obligations in England. The study is due to report at the end of this year.
No information is held by Government on the overall administrative costs of complying with planning obligations per year. Some information on costs to local authorities is collected as part of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's annual survey of all local planning authorities, but the coverage of responses is too small to be representative.
Affordable Housing
David Taylor:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of the affordable housing units to be built or procured through the Housing Corporation Approved
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Development Programme in the East Midlands Region in (a) 2005–06, (b) 2006–07 and (c) 2007–08 will be (i)mixed funded social rented housing, (ii) temporary social rented housing, (iii) homebuy general market purchase, (iv)homebuy general new build, (v) mixed funded low cost home ownership for sale, (vi) miscellaneous works to RSL stock, (vii) reimprovements to rented RSL stock, (viii) works only rehabilitation of rented RSL stock, (ix)works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for sale, (x)right to acquire, (xi) voluntary purchase grant, (xii) do-it-yourself shared ownership, (xiii) temporary intermediate and (xiv) market rent housing; and how much will be spent on each category in each year. [18168]
Yvette Cooper: The following tables show the latest estimated completions and expenditure in the East Midlands region for 2005–06 through the Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme, for categories from (i) to (xiv). Funding and completions are not directly comparable, as funding will relate to projects running, not necessarily units completed, in any one year.
Source:
Housing Corporation Information Management System as at 12 October 2005.
For 2006–07 and 2007–08 Regional Housing Boards have made recommendations to Ministers for the allocation of Regional Housing Pots funds. The East Midlands Regional Housing Board has recommended that from their allocation of £284 million for the two years a total of £166 million should be allocated to the provision of affordable housing. However, the exact distribution of funding between programmes for 2006–08 will not be known until the completion of the Housing Corporation's bidding process.
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In August 2005 the Housing Corporation launched the bidding round for the 2006–08 Affordable Housing Programme (AHP). This invited both registered social landlords and non-registered bodies to apply for funds to develop affordable housing based on priorities set by the Regional Housing Boards. The outcome of this bidding round will not be known until early in 2006.
Building Regulations
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what reviews he has undertaken of compliance with PartM of the building regulations. [17606]
Yvette Cooper: An early assessment was made in late 2000 of the effect of the 1999 amendment to Part M, which introduced controls for the first time on access to housing. The results were inconclusive as insufficient numbers of dwellings needing to comply with the new requirements had by then been built. A further study commenced in January 2005 and is due to report towards the end of October 2005. No assessment has yet been made of compliance with the requirements for non-domestic buildings introduced on 1 May 2004.
Business Rates
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the net yield from business rates after reliefs in England was in each year since 1997; and what the estimated figure is for 2005–06. [17396]
Mr. Woolas: The figures requested are tabled as follows.
(40)Contribution in lieu of rates for Crown properties. Most Crown properties transferred to local lists with effect from 2000–01.
(41)Estimates.
Source:
NNDR1 and NNDR3 returns; central government information on central and Crown lists.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the 2005 business rates revaluation in England was revenue neutral in 2005–06 on the basis of figures for 2004–05. [17233]
Mr. Woolas: Although figures are not available to identify precisely the effect of business rates revaluation, information provided by billing authorities and relating to the Central List shows that the net rate yield increased by 4.2 per cent. between 2004–05 and 2005–06, from £16,900 million to £17,618 million.
This increase is due mainly to uprating the multiplier by 3.1 per cent. in line with the increase in the Retail Prices Index between September 2003 and September 2004.
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The rest of the increase is due to several inter-related factors including: an increase in the multiplier to take account of expected losses from appeals during the lifetime of the 2005 rating list; the increase between years in the number of hereditaments; and the operation of the transitional relief scheme.
Casinos
Mrs. May: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many planning applications to build casinos there have been in the last two years. [18193]
Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Concessionary Bus Fares
Tim Loughton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which authorities will incur a net cost as a result of the funding formula for the proposed expansion of the concessionary bus fares scheme for older people. [18848]
Mr. Woolas: The Government will provide an extra £350 million for the 2006–07 settlement which will be sufficient to fund the cost to local authorities. No decision has been taken on the funding formula for concessionary fares. This will be announced, alongside other decisions on the settlement formulae, in due course.
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