Reforms to force developers to commit to build out schedules in planning applications
Councils will be handed new powers to keep housebuilders on track to ensure build-out of homes, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced.
Under proposals announced on Sunday (25 May), the Government said housebuilders will have to commit to delivery timeframes before they get planning permission.
Housebuilders will also have to submit a commencement notice when they commence development and produce annual reports showing the local authority their progress.
The proposals are packaged in a planning reform working paper entitled 'Speeding Up Build Out'.
The paper also suggests a new 'delayed homes penalty', which would be a last resort measure available for local authorities where a developer has agreed to a build-out schedule in their planning permission but falls materially (10% or more) behind it without a good reason.
The penalty, which could be worth thousands per unbuilt home, would be paid directly to local planning authorities.
This will require primary legislation and only apply to future planning permissions, the Ministry said.
The paper meanwhile confirms that the Government will implement a new power introduced by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 relating to the compulsory purchase of land which will remove risks to the use of compulsory purchase orders on stalled sites.
In addition, the Government has committed to reforms to completion notices laid out in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. These changes will allow local planning authorities to issue completion notices if development is unlikely to be completed within a reasonable period.
A technical consultation has been launched alongside the working paper on requiring transparency and accountability measures for build-out rates on housing sites.
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner claimed the reforms would help achieve the 1.5 million home target the Government set in 2024.
She said: "This Government has taken radical steps to overhaul the planning system to get Britain building again after years of inaction. In the name of delivering security for working people, we are backing the builders not the blockers. Now it's time for developers to roll up their sleeves and play their part.
"We're going even further to get the homes we need. No more sites with planning permission gathering dust for decades while a generation struggle to get on the housing ladder."
The housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, Cllr Adam Hug, meanwhile said: "We are pleased the Government has acted on the LGA's call for it to be easier for councils to penalise developers and acquire stalled housing sites or sites which have not been built out to timescales contractually agreed, ideally with the recovery being made at pre-planning gain prices."
He added: "The ability to apply a' Delayed Homes Penalty' is a power that councils have been asking for and means that local taxpayers are not missing out on lost income due to slow developers, but it must be set at a level that incentivises build out."
Adam Carey
