Fine Margins
Viability assessments in planning and plan-making
The financial viability of development is taking on an increasingly important role in the planning and plan-making process. In this Insight, we have sought to provide to a comprehensive overview of the way in which viability assessments are conducted and for the purposes of area-wide viability studies to inform local plan preparation.
Changes to national planning policy and related practice guidance in recent years have presented some potentially significant challenges for developers and plan-makers to overcome. The importance of these changes cannot be overstated: recent evidence suggests that the soundness of local plans is increasingly being fought on a viability battleground.
Drawing upon several years’ worth of evidence from local plan and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) viability studies from across England and Wales, this Insight helps to bring greater clarity to an area of practice in which there are frequent misunderstandings and to allow more meaningful debate on this important issue.
