The government appears set to row back on radical proposals set out last summer to ditch the current Section 106 system in favour of a flat-rate Infrastructure Levy across England.

Housing ministry chief planner Joanna Averley said the government will instead proceed “incredibly carefully” in bringing in any reforms, and that it was “very aware” of the “micro” nature of landscapes and housing markets in England.

Her comments, to an online event hosted by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), follow extensive criticisms that the government’s proposals to replace the system of developer contributions from Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) with a new flat rate levy, risk stalling developments on brownfield sites and jeopardising the delivery of affordable housing.

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