The Government invited views to inform further policy development and proposed options to incentivise a faster rate of build out and poses questions on how this could be achieved.
Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities
3rd Floor, Fry Building
Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Dear Planning Team,
I am writing in response to the government’s planning reform working paper Speeding Up Build Out.
As the working paper rightly highlights, 'slow build out is of great frustration to many local planning authorities and communities' and the LGA are pleased the Government is taking steps to address these concerns.
We have long raised the issue of slow build out rates and called on local authorities to be given greater powers to ensure prompt build out of sites with planning permission. Local authorities deliver permissions, developers deliver homes. Unless there is a fundamental shift in local authorities’ abilities or expectation to deliver homes, they should not be subject to punitive measures which undermine the plan-led system including the five year housing land supply test and the Housing Delivery Test.
The LGA has proposed 'use it or lose it' reforms, including raising the threshold for considering pre-commencement conditions to have been discharged. We also urge the Government to work with the sector to redefine what is meant by 'start' on site to ensure it results in meaningful efforts to commence construction.
Local government shares ambitions to boost housebuilding and work hard with communities and developers to deliver new sites. Too often they are frustrated when developers do not build the homes they have approved. While intervention of this sort is a last resort, this move is crucial to help ensure meaningful build out of sites.
Mixed Tenure Thresholds
We are supportive of the working paper proposals to introduce a site size threshold above which sites must deliver on a mixed tenure basis. Already national and local policies set thresholds for which developers should ensure there are different tenures including affordable housing, to provide mixed communities.
We agree that there should be discretion at the local level as to what this threshold is set at, as what is appropriate in one local authority’s area might not be appropriate in another.
Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs)
The LGA are also supportive of the working paper’s intentions to support the implementation of provisions set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 to allow conditional confirmation of CPOs to 'de-risk the use of CPOs on stalled sites'.
CPO’s are an important tool available to councils to assemble land and develop infrastructure needed to help deliver vital regeneration that helps local areas to prosper and grow. Councils recognise that the use of a CPO to acquire land should be used as a last resort, where it has not been possible to secure acquisition through an agreement with the landowner. Also, in establishing a fair price for land acquired through the use of CPO, it is vital that a balance is struck between protecting the human rights of the landowner and the ability of councils to deliver their statutory planning responsibilities to meet the infrastructure needs of communities.
Our response to the Government’s consultation on Compulsory Purchase Process and Compensation Reforms in February 2025 set out further reforms to CPO legislation and process, including:
- stronger/streamlined CPOs to tackle empty homes
- powers to direct the use of publicly owned land
- ensure sufficient resourcing and expertise within councils to resource CPOs.
Delayed Homes Penalty
The LGA has long called for councils to be able to charge developers full council tax (at Band D) for each unbuilt home from the point the planning permission expires to incentivise developers to build out to agreed timescales. Therefore, we welcome the Government’s intention to introduce a 'Delayed Homes Penalty' for those schemes 'which falls materially behind pre-agreed build out schedules'. The Government should note our response to their consultation 'Implementing measures to improve build out transparency'.
Local planning authorities are often blamed for stalling development and are seen as blockers, but the statistics continue to show that councils grant nine in ten planning applications. Councils want to work proactively with developers to get schemes up and running, but there remain instances across the country where sites simply are not built out at either agreed or reasonable timescales.
It is right to link the use of the Delayed Homes Penalty to the transparency measures the Government has consulted on, however we highlight our concerns around capacity and resourcing of local planning authorities, as without additional funding, training and support, there is a risk that authorities may struggle to implement the proposed changes effectively, undermining the ambition behind the well-intentioned reforms.
We also highlight that, whilst welcome, these proposals do not tackle existing stalled developments and lack of build out with those units that have already been granted permission. Government should give consideration on how to apply any incentives for build out to historically or previously permissioned schemes.
We recognise that, crucially, a 'Delayed Homes Penalty' must be set at a level that incentivises build out.
As the Government continues to consider further how to speed up the delivery of sites with planning permission, the LGA and local authorities would welcome further engagement to ensure that it optimises the speed and deliverability of schemes for local communities.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Adam Hug
Chair, Local Infrastructure and Net Zero Board
Local Government Association