By Joey Gardiner 2021-01-15T09:17:00+00:00
Joanna Averley says proposed changes to developer contribution system will proceed ’incredibly carefully’
The government appears set to row back on radical proposals set out last summer to ditch the current Section 106 system in favour of a flat-rate Infrastructure Levy across England.
Housing ministry chief planner Joanna Averley said the government will instead proceed “incredibly carefully” in bringing in any reforms, and that it was “very aware” of the “micro” nature of landscapes and housing markets in England.
Her comments, to an online event hosted by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), follow extensive criticisms that the government’s proposals to replace the system of developer contributions from Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) with a new flat rate levy, risk stalling developments on brownfield sites and jeopardising the delivery of affordable housing.
First vaccine for plants in development in bid to end use of poisonous pesticides
This comes as the government approved a bee-toxic pesticide for use this year
Insect decline is linked to the overuse of pesticides
Credit: Moment RF /Kimberly Hosey
A treatment for plants which scientists have said acts like a vaccine is under development as researchers battle to end the use of poisonous pesticides.
The National Farmers Union campaigned for sugar beet growers to be able to use Cruiser SB, which tackles the disease Virus Yellows, in order to save this year s crop.
The disease is carried by aphids, which are killed by the neonicotinoid.