Affordable housing definitions and Section 106 contributions in England

This paper examines whether Local Planning Authority definitions of affordable housing provide adequate clarity with which to negotiate affordable housing contributions with private sector house builders. The paper updates Government research, Delivering Affordable Housing through Planning Policy (ODPM, 2002), by systematically interrogating the affordable housing definitions of 51 Local Planning Authorities in England. LPA housing and planning documents were scrutinised in respect of the local definition of affordable housing, whether it conformed to the Governments ‘new’ PPS3 definition, the thresholds set at which the requirement for affordable housing is triggered and the target level at which Section 106 contributions are set. The findings indicate that although Local Planning Authority definitions of affordable housing have improved in terms of their quality, precision and clarity, one in five LPAs still did not provide a concise definition of affordable housing.