Court Holds Government Changes to Policies on Affordable Housing to be Unlawful

摘要

Holgate J's decision in West Berkshire DC v Department for Communities and Local Government1 has held that the changes made in November 2014 to the Government's policies with respect to affordable housing and social infrastructure contributions and vacant building credit are unlawful. The decision runs to 216 paragraphs and there are several grounds to the judgment. However at the heart of the decision is the Government's objective of reducing the burden on developers of providing affordable housing. On November 28, 2014, a Ministerial statement was issued, which stated that developments of 10 units or 1,000m~2 or less (including annexes and extensions) would be excluded from affordable housing levies and tariff-based contributions. The courts are very careful not to be seen to be interfering with Government policy but in this case Holgate J, in a very robust judgment, held that the way the policy had been changed was unfair and more significantly was inconsistent with the statutory scheme concerning local plans and their status and purposes. This was because the new policy went further than just providing material considerations to be considered in applying the development plan policies but overrode those policies.