• I READ with great interest the August 13 comments from Cllr Danny Beales in relation to the government’s proposed planning reforms, (Overhaul of planning system is a ‘developer’s charter’).

As someone who works in the industry, I entirely concur with Cllr Beales. This is a complete catastrophe.

There is only one way to describe this ill-thought-out, half-baked, policy and that is: “The reverse Robin Hood – stealing from the poor and giving to the rich”.

Every council in this country has been facing increasing financial pressures over the past decade under the austerity which means there has been less and less money to provide and maintain essential services to us, the ordinary taxpayers.

Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides for specific contributions for services and facilities to help the infrastructure cope with new homes being built – for example local parks might get play equipment or that dangerous crossing might, at last, get the zebra crossing so that we could get our children safely across the road.

More importantly s106 also provides for affordable housing, homes for first-time buyers, those on lower incomes and specifically key workers such as police officers, teachers and nurses, certainly a group I believe we need to help as much as we can to express our thanks.

This can either be provided on site for any development over 10 homes or it could go to a fund administered by the council and contribute to larger housing projects; something our council has done very successfully, having recently completed its 1,000th new home in the borough.

The proposals by the government is effectively a rehash of their Community Infrastructure Levy that was introduced in 2010 (and that was not adopted by the majority of councils who wanted to stay with s106).

This regurgitated, failed, policy the government dished up as a new idea takes the money provided under s106 away from the local community that is welcoming the new residents into their neighbourhood and puts it in a central pot to be spent anywhere in the borough and effectively on anything.

Under s106 any development over 10 units needs to make a contribution to affordable housing – for those on lower incomes who need it most. This “new” policy moves that up to 50!

To explain this in simple terms, the Mayor of London requires 50 per cent of developments over 10 to be affordable; when a development has 11 new homes about five (5) of them needs to be affordable or contribute funds to build affordable homes.

This new policy moves that figure to 50. This means that only at 51 new homes would the requirement for affordable housing come in. This is a loss of up to 25 much needed homes at every development.

Camden will be particularly hard hit by this as our new housing is usually on redevelopment sites and very few of them would ever reach the point where contributions are made for affordable housing.

Where would this leave those on lower incomes, those teachers, police officers and nurses? Living in outer London and commuting in every day?

I fail to see how this totally indefensible policy could do anything other than harm to the residents of Camden.

HENRY LAMPRECHT
Doughty Street, WC1