BUDGET 2017 The chancellor has announced an “urgent review” into landbanking around the UK as part of measures to speed up housebuilding.
The Budget failed to take specific measures against landbanking, but a new “urgent review” has been established, led by MP Oliver Letwin.
It will report in time for the Spring Statement next year, and if it is found land is held for commercial reasons it will lead to direct intervention.
Jonathan Dyke, strategic land director at IM Land, said the review needed to concentrate on who owns the land.
“Listening to this talk about muscular intervention, where housebuilders and developers are sitting on planning permissions, I do not think the government understands it is a fallacy talking about landbanking.
“Housebuilders are driven by return on capital employed: as soon as they got hold of a planning permission they are working super quick to get on site.
Dyke said the government review will realise who is holding those permissions outside of London: landowners, authorities, promoters and government bodies, and that the process of gaining planning is what takes the time: going from allocation to planning permission to a detailed permission, and then satisfying conditions.
“With under-resourced teams, they give a suite of conditions they just apply. You could end up with 45; 16 or 18 of which are pre-commencement.
He said the solutions for under-resourced departments are dedicated officers, or planning performance agreements, where developers essentially pay a deciated planner.
The chancellor’s review will also not take into account the slow build of sites where construction has started, but only 50 homes are built a year – a major drag on sites with more than 1,000 homes.
“Really that is why I am flying the flag of the land promoters,” said Dyke.
“If we bought a 1,000-home site, we would market in three of four markets, getting you up to 150 completions per annum… so you do not have just a monopoly with only one housebuilder, you have a range of large and small outlets.”
