Sir Oliver Letwin (Image: West Dorset Conservatives)
The homogeneity of the types and tenures of new homes on offer is limiting the speed at which they are being built, an independent review has concluded.
Conservative MP Sir Oliver Letwin was commissioned by the government to conduct an Independent Review of Build Out Rates, focussing on the issue of the build out rate of fully permitted homes on the largest sites in areas of high housing demand.
Publishing his final report earlier this week, Sir Oliver concluded that one of the fundamental drivers of slow build out rates was the lack of variety when it came to the homes being constructed.
He urged the government to find ways to increase the variety and differentiation of what is on offer on the large sites, raising the rate of build out and the proportion of affordable housing.
He recommended the government should:
- Adopt a new set of planning rules specifically designed to apply to all future large sites (initially those over 1,500 units) in areas of high housing demand, requiring developers to provide a diversity of offerings;
- Establish a National Expert Committee to advise local authorities on the interpretation of diversity requirements for large sites and to arbitrate where the diversity requirements cause an appeal as the result of a disagreement between local authority and developer.
To encourage the developers to diversify existing large sites over the near term, he recommended making any future government funding for house builders or potential purchasers of such sites conditional upon the builder accepting a Section 106 agreement which conforms to the proposed new planning rules.
And he asked the government to consider a small amount of funding for existing large sites to prevent any interruption of development in the event that they otherwise become non-viable for the existing builder as a result of accepting the new diversity provisions.
The report also proposed giving local authorities more control over development in their area through one of two special purpose vehicles to help boost house building. The vehicles – either a Local Development Company (LDC) or Local Authority Master Planner (LAMP) – would help to design a bespoke master plan for each site.
And it recommended new powers for councils to compulsorily purchase land at prices that reflect the value of the sites once they have planning permission, in order to designate housing zones which can only be developed as “single large sites”.
Earlier this year, when announcing the conclusion of the first phase of his review, Sir Oliver said he found no evidence that developers were holding up the construction of homes through the practice of land banking.
In a statement following the publication of the review’s final report, a spokesperson for the Home Builders Federation said: “We welcome the recognition in the report by Sir Oliver Letwin, acknowledged by the chancellor in his Budget speech that housebuilders do not land bank. This supports the findings of numerous previous such reports. We look forward to working with government on how the other recommendations made in the report can help increase housing output further.”
To read the full report, click here.
