Consultation launched on unlocking development.
Views are being sought on measures to speed up the delivery of
new homes as part of the Scottish Government's response to the
housing emergency.
The measures would help accelerate building on sites allocated
for development or which have planning permission. They include
fiscal incentives to discourage delays and initiatives to fine
tune the system to work better for SME housebuilders.
The 2026-27 draft Scottish Budget includes record funding of £926
million for the affordable housing supply programme and a
national housing agency, More Homes Scotland, is being set up to
help meet the housing need.
Public Finance Minister
said:
“Since 2007, the Scottish Government has supported the delivery
of 141,000 affordable homes, including 101,000 for social rent.
“But we know that Scotland urgently needs more homes and planning
permission is already in place for a significant amount of
housing land. We need to encourage construction to start or
re-commence on those sites.
“This consultation seeks views on how incentives, clearer
expectations and – where appropriate – stronger
interventions could help local authorities, developers,
landowners and communities undertake and complete more housing
developments, more quickly. It builds on existing work to
tackle stalled housing sites, support public sector led
development, and strengthen planning capacity across
Scotland.”
Background
The Accelerating Home Building
in Scotland consultation is open for responses until 30
April.
A high-level estimate identifies there could be as many as
164,000 housing units with planning permission that haven't been
built out yet for a variety of reasons.
While planning plays an important role in
enabling development, evidence shows that a range of other
factors, including market conditions, viability,
infrastructure constraints, and business
decisions can delay or stall buildout after consent is
granted.
The consultation sets out four broad options for change:
- Fiscal measures to encourage timely buildout of
homes on allocated or consented sites
- Stronger monitoring of buildout rates, with powers to
intervene where progress is unreasonably slow.
- Simplifying planning processes for smaller sites, to reduce
costs and delays for SME housebuilders.
- Encouraging more diverse housing delivery on larger sites, to
increase market absorption and speed up development.
Depending on the outcome of the consultation, any future measures
could require new legislation in a future session of the Scottish
Parliament, alongside appropriate
impact assessments.
New housing agency to deliver
simplicity, scale and speed
