LISTEN: Housing minister Brandon Lewis today refused to give in to mounting pressure over the controversial ‘vacant building credit’, telling Estates Gazette it will not be scrapped.
In a podcast with Estates Gazette after the British Property Federation’s residential conference today, Lewis said he would not revise or scrap the recently implemented ‘vacant building credit’.
He said “councils would not lose out” over the planning guidance, which means that when planning is secured for a residential conversion in a building that is vacant, developers would only pay an affordable contribution on any new space. The provision was previously levied on the full size of the building.
