Councils step up battle over planning powers as figures show a million homes with permission not yet built

The group wants minsters to use the white paper to hand local authorities powers to intervene on unbuilt land which has planning permission. This should include making it easier to compulsory purchase land where homes remain unbuilt and allow councils to charge developers full council tax for every unbuilt development from the point that the original planning permission expires, the LGA said.

David Renard, housing spokesperson for the LGA and leader of Swindon Council, said: “The planning system is not a barrier to housebuilding. The number of homes granted planning permission has far outpaced the number of homes being built.

“No one can live in a planning permission or a half-built house where work on a site has begun but not been completed. Councils need powers to tackle our housing backlog and step in where a site with planning permission lies dormant and housebuilding has stalled.

“If we are to solve our housing shortage, councils need to be able to get building again and resume their role as major builders of affordable homes.”

However, the Home Builders Federation, which represents Britain’s biggest house builders, questioned the LGA’s stance.

A spokesperson for the organisation said: “The LGA perpetuates the myth every year that the number of outstanding permissions demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with the planning system. Yet the real issue is the choice of location, site size and tenure of the dwellings that get permission.”

They added: “Speeding up the rate at which permissions are granted – ie the move from ‘granted’ to ‘implementable’ – is key to significant, sustainable increases in housebuilding.

“Too many sites are stuck in the planning system, with tens of thousands of plots at [the] ‘permission granted’ stage awaiting full sign off by local authorities.”