Introduction of an Affordable Housing Enabling Fee

That Torbay Council implement
the Affordable Housing Enabling Fee from the 1 April
2026.  Registered Providers will be
informed of the implementation.

This proposed enabling fee is utilised by many other
LAs across the country.  It is an
accepted cost to RPs when agreeing to deliver and manage Affordable
Homes on new build developments. 
The fee makes a small contribution to the
Council’s cost of resourcing dedicated officer time
associated with site identification, scheme development,
planning/legal negotiations, and funding compliance.

Rejecting the proposal would result in the Council continuing to
cover the staffing costs in full, from the revenue
budget.  However, RPs across the country
include this fee as part of their scheme appraisals.  This is an accepted cost to recognise the amount
of staff time that Councils spend on the enabling
process.  RPs recognise that this
enables the delivery of Affordable Housing of the right type and
tenure, in the right places to meet the needs of the local
community.  Paying this fee enables
Affordable Housing delivery as Local Authority staff understand
this area of expertise and local issues.  RPs recognise quicker delivery than if they had to
do this themselves.

Torbay
could reject this proposal and continue to meet the staffing costs
in full.

In recognition of the significant staff time and
expertise required, Torbay Council – in common with other
Local Authorities (LAs) – will be introducing an
‘Enabling Activity Fee’ to contribute towards the cost
of employing this specialist resource. 
This will have a positive impact by increasing Affordable Housing
provision within Torbay, whilst making this a smoother process for
Registered Providers (RPs). 

This fee is capped at £300 per Affordable Unit delivered, payable by RPs at
completion of development.  This will be
subject to annual review but has been benchmarked on the similar
fees charged by other LAs.  This will be
charged on all schemes delivered through s106 planning obligations,
as well as any homes provided as ‘own build’ and
‘additionality’ over and above a normal s106
requirement by any RP.  RPs have been
briefed that this charge will likely come into force in 26/27 and
it is being built into viability appraisal now,
accordingly.