The independent report was commissioned by the Chancellor to explain the gap between housing completions and the amount of land allocated or permissioned.
The review found no evidence that speculative land banking was part of the business model for major house builders, slowing build out rates.
His review concluded that greater differentiation in the types and tenures of housing delivered on large sites would increase the market absorption rates of new homes – the binding constraint on build out rates on large sites.
To achieve this he recommended:
- Introduce new powers for local authorities to compulsorily purchase land “at prices which reflect the value of those sites once they have planning permission” in order to designate housing zones which can be developed “only as single large sites”
- Adopt new planning rules for large sites of over 1,500 units in areas of high housing demand, requiring developers to provide a diversity of offerings, in line with diversification principles in a new planning policy document
- Future government funding for house builders or potential purchasers on such sites should be conditional upon the builder accepting a Section 106 agreement which conforms with the new planning policy for such sites
- establish a National Expert Committee to advise local authorities on the interpretation of diversity requirements for large sites
. The government will respond to the review in full in February 2019.
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