Housebuilders who fail to build homes may be stripped of land and face fines under new housing department proposals.
Developers will also have to commit to delivery timeframes for new houses before being given planning permission to ensure that “thousands of new homes promised to communities will be delivered faster,” the department said.
It added that housebuilders will have to submit annual reports showing their progress to local councils.
But the government said that builders “who consistently fail to build out consented sites and those who secure planning permissions simply to trade land speculatively could also face a ‘Delayed Homes Penalty’ worth thousands per unbuilt home, paid directly to local planning authorities”.
It added: “Those deliberately sitting on vital land, without building the homes promised could see their sites acquired by councils where there is a case in the public interest and stripped of future planning permissions”.
These latest moves by the government to back its pledge to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, were released over the weekend.
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner said: “This government has taken radical steps to overhaul the planning system to get Britain building again after years of inaction.
“Now it’s time for developers to roll up their sleeves and play their part.
“We’re going even further to get the homes we need. No more sites with planning permission gathering dust for decades while a generation struggles to get on the housing ladder.”
The housing department added that large housing sites, with over 2,000 homes, can take at least 14 years to build, “meaning working families and young people spend years deprived of homeownership or the ability to rent an affordable home”.
But where more than 40% of homes are affordable, build-out is twice as fast,” the department pointed out.
It said it would begin “testing a new requirement for large sites to be mixed tenure by default – helping to build more homes, including more affordable homes, faster”.
