Responding to amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration
Bill on housebuilding targets, Cllr David Renard, housing
spokesperson at the Local Government Association, said:
“Councils are committed to working with government and developers
to build the housing the country needs, with land for more than
2.6 million homes allocated in Local Plans and nine in 10
planning applications being approved.
“It is good that the Government has recognised that
national, top-down algorithms and formulas can never be a
substitute for local knowledge and decision-making by those who
know their areas best. We have been clear that councils and
communities are best placed to decide how to build the right
homes in the right places in their local areas, with the right
infrastructure, and these proposed changes will help to ensure
this can happen.
“Councils have long-called for more powers to tackle developers
who do not build homes in a timely manner and we are pleased the
Government is acting on our call for action. By penalising those
who sit on planning permissions for longer than necessary, more
homes can be provided in a speedy manner to those who really need
them the most.
“In addition, the social housing supply is not sufficient to
meeting the current housing demand, which is why we want to see
long-term plans to give councils powers to build 100,000
high-quality, climate-friendly social homes a year, including
reform of the Right to Buy scheme, which has made it difficult.”
