Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of building sites in England with planning consent on which construction work was started in the second quarter of 2025; and what percentage this represented of all sites in England with planning permission.

The Department does not hold the requested information.

On 25 May, the government published a Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out (which can be found on gov.uk here) inviting views on further action the government should take to speed up homes being built.

On the same day, we launched a technical consultation on implementing measures to improve the transparency of build rates from new residential development, which includes proposals to implement provisions in Section 113 of the LURA on the power to decline to determine applications. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, the government intends bring forward the regulations to implement these measures at the earliest practical opportunity with the new build out reporting framework coming into force from 2026.