Treasury has no plans to require that money paid by developers in lieu of on-site affordable housing be spent specifically within that area.
The confirmation was issued in response to a written Tynwald question from Glenfaba and Peel MHKKate Lord-Brennan.
Ms Lord-Brennan had asked whether Dr Alex Allinson would introduce a requirement to ensure that funds from commuted sums are spent in the specific locality that would otherwise have benefited from the affordable housing?
However, Dr Allinson said that there is “no statutory requirement for commuted sums to be spent in the specific locality from which they originate”.
He added that while the funds’ terms are reviewed annually, “Treasury have no current plans to change the Terms of Reference for the Housing Reserve Fund to ring-fence commuted sums and introduce specific locality requirements for expenditure”.
A separate response from the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture to a question from Ms Lord-Brennan revealed that comprehensive data on commuted sums over the past 30 years is unavailable, as “such information has not been retained in a readily retrievable format”.
The available records show that commuted sums have only been taken for affordable housing and public open space.
3 Comments