Infrastructure Levy changes hailed as ‘hugely welcome step’

However in an intervention this week, Baroness Scott of Bybrook, a minister at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, tabled amendments to the bill related to the Infrastructure Levy.

In a letter to fellow peers, she said the changes were “designed to address the concerns raised”. 

The amendments mean that local planning authorities “must seek to ensure” that affordable housing funding is maintained or exceeded when the new Infrastructure Levy is introduced. 

In addition, planning authorities can also force developers to pay a proportion of the levy in kind as on-site affordable housing.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation (NHF), which has led calls for changes, said that ministers had “heeded the specific concerns” of the sector.

She added: “At a time of a chronic shortage of social homes, these amendments to the proposed Infrastructure Levy in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill represent a hugely welcome step for the protection of affordable housing.”

The changes comes after a 12-week government consultation on the levy closed last month.

Ms Henderson added: “We are grateful for the positive and constructive engagement we’ve had with the government on this issue.” 

She said the NHF will “continue to work with the government” as it tests the new levy to help ensure it “benefits communities across the country”.