Clause 1
Planning-gain Supplement (Preparations) Bill
11:15 am
John Healey (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
I shall start with amendment No. 6, as the hon. Member for Twickenham did. It would allow the Government to prepare for a planning gain supplement in which all revenues collected would be hypothecated to the local planning authority level. I recognise the thinking behind the amendment and I think that the hon. Gentleman would accept that the Chancellor has made it quite clear that, as an essentially local measure, the planning gain supplement will predominantly support infrastructure provision at the local level. In the pre-Budget report in December, we made a commitment to ensure that at least 70 per cent. of planning gain supplement revenues are recycled back to the local authority area from which the revenues are derived. That represents an unprecedented commitment to funding local infrastructure and we would not seriously consider a planning gain supplement unless we believed that it could raise additional revenue and resources for the support of the infrastructure required for development.
I have to say to the hon. Gentleman, without being tempted to stray too widely, that even after years of trial and implementation, section 106 is still very patchy. Many local authorities are not negotiating section 106 agreements and therefore many local communities are not benefiting from contributions from developers to their local area and to the infrastructure required to support those developments. The Sheffield Hallam university study recently showed that only 40 per cent. of major developments had section 106 agreements and 60 per cent. did not.
It is important to recognise that the infrastructure to support the growth and development needed may often have to be delivered beyond the local authority area in which the planning gain supplement may be levied. It may be required to be delivered at a regional level, and certainly beyond the area in which the local authority concerned has any direct jurisdiction. Simply to grant all the money to the local planning authority—in two-tier areas, that would be the district council—would preclude the planning gain supplement from funding wider, more strategic projects, which could clearly affect the ability to encourage the necessary development that may be required.