DCLG says participants in estate regeneration programme should expect to make viability assessments public

A statement issued by the DCLG last week (13-page / 484 KB PDF) called for expressions of interest in bringing forward estate regeneration proposals and set out guiding principles to help in their preparation. The statement said £140 million in loan funding has been set aside "to be used as a springboard for partnership and joint venture proposals".

The guidance said it was important to demonstrate that schemes would be viable, including consideration of potential partners and joint ventures that might provide support or funding. However it warned that "to maintain the trust of existing residents and to ensure transparency, submitters of proposals for regeneration should expect to make public the results of the viability assessments underpinning their proposals at all stages of the development process".

According to the document, no limitations will be placed on who submits an expression of interest but "development vehicles should be private sector bodies or joint ventures and their leveraged finance be classed as private sector borrowing".

The guidance said schemes should lead to "a net increase in new housing supply" and should offer value for money. It said existing residents "should be entitled to remain on the redeveloped estate or offered equivalent accommodation locally".

It has been increasingly common for public bodies to require the public disclosure of viability reports since Greenwich Council was ordered last February to disclose full details of reports relating to the reduction of affordable housing requirements at the Greenwich Peninsula.

The London Borough of Hounslow amended its planning application process last year, to require applicants for planning permission to submit a viability assessment that will be disclosed online. Greenwich Council and Islington Council have introduced similar requirements through the adoption of supplementary planning documents (SPDs), and consultation closed in February on a SPD that would require disclosure of viability assessments for non-policy compliant schemes in the London Borough of Southwark.

As of this month, Kensington and Chelsea Council will automatically publish any pre-application advice once the relevant planning application has been made.

Planning expert Matthew Fox of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "As more and more local planning authorities look to grapple with whether or not viability assessments should be published, this statement by central government follows the recent direction of travel of the expectation that developers should be more transparent . The statement wording suggests that the publication of these viability assessments will be wholesale, and not subject to any of the confidentiality carve-outs permitted by Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations such as commercial confidentiality."

"It appears a trend is developing with national and local government signalling that disclosure in the public interest should trump commercial confidentiality where development of public land assets are involved and in some London Boroughs this is being extended to catch private land development where it will not deliver a policy compliant scheme such as those policies introduced by Greenwich," said Fox.

Rebecca Warren of Pinsent Masons said: "Developers will need to think carefully how they approach schemes in areas affected by these changes. To date there have always been challenges made by third parties to seek disclosure of information, but one wonders if we will see a change in tides with the development industry perhaps now seeking to challenge the emerging disclosure policies."

"We would expect that national bodies representing the development industry will take an interest in these recent developments given the impact it could have on industry members," said Warren. "Certainly we would urge developers to engage in any consultations on such policies to seek to secure a more balanced approach for example consistency with the FOI/EIR position such that each assessment be reviewed on its merits as regards benefits of full disclosure as opposed to introducing a blanket full disclosure policy."

Expressions of interest in the government's estate regeneration scheme can be made by email to [email protected].