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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the publication of the White Paper <i>Fixing our broken housing market</i>, what is their estimate of the level of disruption and delay caused to house building by the failure to secure timely utility connections.

Timely utility connections are key in ensuring that the homes this country needs are built. A range of factors may cause delays to build out of housing developments, such as discharging planning conditions and obligations, dealing with issues around protected species, or shortages in construction skills. Some builders cite the complex process and time it can take to make utility connections as one of the more significant delays in providing new homes, and have estimated it can in some cases add a three to six month delay after construction has started.

This is why we have committed in the White Paper to review what more we could do to ensure that utilities planning and delivery keeps pace with house building and supports developments across the country.