Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Evans Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Felicity Buchan]

As I have said, we are committed to abolishing section 21 in this Parliament at the earliest opportunity.

[Dr Luke Evans (Bosworth) (Con)]

2. What steps his Department is taking to tackle land banking by property developers and encourage development.

[The Minister of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Lucy Frazer)]

Too often, planning permission is granted and building work simply does not start. Through the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill that is currently going through the House, developers will be required to notify local authorities when development starts, and existing powers to serve completion notices will be streamlined. Last week we went even further and tabled amendments to ensure that housing developers will now have to report annually on delivery, and local authorities will have the power to decline to determine applications made by developers who fail to build out at a reasonable rate earlier on the same land.

[Dr Evans]

I am grateful for the Minister’s answer. This issue is important for areas such as mine, where we do not have an up-to-date local plan because the Lib Dem borough council has not sorted it. That leads to a vulnerability in our community to speculative development. Coupling that with the duty to co-operate with Leicester city, which is not building up and out either, results in huge amounts of pressure on our countryside and green spaces. What does the Minister suggest can solve this problem? Will it come forward in the new legislation?