Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of dwellings with planning permission that are classified as (a) progressing towards a start, (b) on hold or shelved and (c) started on site in the latest period for which figures are available.

The Coalition Government has kick-started house building, taken a series of initiatives to get stalled sites building, and reformed the planning system to help deliver more homes and increase local decision making. In the last twelve months to Q2 2014, a total of 230,000 permissions were given for new homes across England (estimates based on Glenigan data for all sites).

Falling number of stalled sites

As has been repeatedly explained to the rt. hon. Member in previous answers on this topic, the number of dwellings with planning permission that are classified as “on hold or shelved” has steadily fallen thanks to the action this Government is taking. This is illustrated in the table below.

_{Note: Based on estimates from Glenigan for sites with unimplemented permissions in England. Dwellings on sites with 10 units or more; excludes sites which have been sold, were due to be sold, or else information not available. This data comes from a live database that is constantly revised, and as result figures for a given month can fluctuate slightly. September 2014 rounded to the nearest thousand.}

Rising number of starts and near-starts

As of 1 September 2014, a further 267,000 units had started on site. In addition, the number of dwellings with planning permission that are moving towards a start has steadily increased, both due to the action we have taken to tackle stalled sites, but also crucially due to the underlying increase in the number of homes being granted planning permission.

_{Note: Methodology as per table above. September 2014 figure rounded to the nearest thousand.}

A rising number of homes progressing towards a start is a positive indicator of increasing housing construction. Contrary to the incorrect claims of the Labour Party, it is not a measure of “land banking” nor is it “houses where nothing is happening”, rather it is a reflection of the detailed work being undertaken, red tape being navigated and finance being raised in order to turn a council planning permission into a construction site.

Action to kick-start house building

Steps we have or are taking to get stalled sites moving include:

· Introducing measures in the Infrastructure Bill to reduce bureaucracy on implementing planning conditions after planning permission has been granted.

· Implementing the recommendations of the Penfold Review to consolidate the overlapping and confusing regime of non-planning consents, on top of planning permission.

· Allowing developers to review economically unrealistic Section 106 agreements, through the Growth and Infrastructure Act. Such unrealistic agreements result in no development, no regeneration and no community benefits: a sensible review can result in more housing and more affordable housing.

· Ending the temporary measure (introduced by the last Administration) which allowed developers to roll forward their planning permissions; this ending of the measure has now increased the incentive for developers to start on site before their permission expires.

Investment we have provided includes:

· The Get Britain Building investment fund, providing over £500 million of finance which has so far helped start over 12,000 new homes on stalled sites.

· The Growing Places Fund is providing £730 million to deliver the infrastructure needed to unlock stalled schemes that will promote economic growth, create jobs and build homes. This is supporting approximately 70,000 new housing units, as well as significant amounts of extra commercial and industrial floor space.

· The £474 million Local Infrastructure Fund investment fund is supporting the delivery of upfront infrastructure for locally-supported, large-scale housing sites and commercial development; it also provides capacity funding and brokerage support to local authorities to help them progress major schemes through the planning process. Nearly 90,000 homes have been unlocked, so far.

· The £3 million Site Delivery Fund is being made available to 66 local planning authorities to accelerate starts on site

· The £525 million Builders' Finance Fund is assisting small and medium-sized developers to access finance to support the delivery of housing schemes of between 15 and 250 units, helping kick-start stalled sites and deliver around 15,000 units over four years.

· Growth Deals with 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships are providing £6 billion of funding over six years (including over £3 billion for projects starting in 2015-16), all with substantial implications for house building. Over the lifetime of Growth Deals (six years), it is estimated the investment will unlock the land or finance for more than 150,000 homes, just from the projects that will start next year in 2015-16.

- In addition, we are taking forward a comprehensive programme to sell surplus and redundant public sector land and property, freeing up taxpayers’ money and providing land for new homes.

Taken together, these indicators show that the Government’s long-term economic plan is working and turning around the mess and recession left by the last Labour Government. Moth-balled sites are springing into action; more homes are being planned; and more homes are being built out.

However, the policy solutions now being advocated by HM Opposition would actually have an adverse effect in reducing house building. If developers fear new development taxes or state confiscation of land, they will be less willing to undertake complex land assembly projects; they will let their existing planning permissions lapse; and they will simply be more cautious in applying for planning permission in the first place. The result would be a slower planning system and fewer new homes.