The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act (LURA) received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. There are a number of key elements within it that will be of particular importance to almshouse charities:

  • Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), will be retained by Greater London and Wales, but replaced in the rest of England by a new Infrastructure Levy (IL) system, which will be non-negotiable and set locally. It will also eventually replace s.106 contributions.
  • Local Authorities must provide an exemption for Charities from IL using property for a charitable purpose, full details are within Schedule 12, Part 1.
  • CIL/IL itself can be used for a wider range of “infrastructure” including “affordable housing” which is defined as:
    • (a) social housing within the meaning of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, and
    • (b) any other description of housing that CIL / Infrastructure Levy regulations may specify.

      This is a very important clause, as it could allow almshouses as community housing to be considered as “affordable housing” for the purposes of receiving funding from CIL / Infrastructure Levy. 

Another potential source of funding will be from Community Land Auctions (CLA), where the receipts can be put towards infrastructure on a similar basis to CIL / Infrastructure Levy with “affordable housing” again defined as

  • (a) social housing within the meaning of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, and
  • (b) any other description of housing that CLA regulations may specify.

The Almshouse Association has been lobbying hard for almshouses to be included within the definition of “affordable housing” within the regulations which will follow LURA in due course. For those members who are Registered Housing Providers, the National Housing Federation has produced a useful summary of LURA at: www.housing.org.uk/news-and-blogs/news/levelling-up-and-regeneration-bill-receives-royal-assent/

There are a wide range of other matters, such as planning and regeneration within LURA and also a section to do with Heritage which updates the Listed Buildings Act.

The full text of LURA 2023 can be found here: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/55/enacted

  • Part 4 – Infrastructure Levey and Community Infrastructure Levy (pages 164-166)
  • Schedule 12 – Infrastructure Levey – Part 1 England – Part 2 Consequential amendments (pages 440-469).

posted 9 November 2023