Land Banking
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to discourage landbanking.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
The government wants to see homes built faster and we recognise the frustrations that stalled or delayed sites can cause to communities.
Once housebuilders have been granted permission for residential development, meeting local housing needs and preferences, we expect to see them built out as quickly as possible.
Local planning authorities already have powers to issue a completion notice to require a developer to complete their development if it is stalled. If they fail to do so, the planning permission for the development will lapse.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December includes policies designed to support increased build out rates, including the promotion of mixed tenure development.
In addition, our New Homes Accelerator aims to unblock and accelerate the delivery of housing developments that have for various reasons become delayed, or which are not progressing as quickly as they could be.
To enhance transparency and accountability in respect of build out rates, the government intend to take steps to implement build out reporting following technical consultation.
We also intend to provide local planning authorities with powers to decline to determine planning applications submitted by developers who have failed to implement previous permissions.
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