Government plans more homes while protecting environment

The government is to use its levelling up strategy to put pressure on developers to deliver more homes more quickly and make it easier for councils to regenerate disused land to create thriving communities.

Amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will put power in the hands of local people to bring forward developments they want to see and clamp down on slow build-out by developers.

Ministers say the amendments will:

• Tackle slow build-out by developers to make sure much needed new homes are delivered. Developers will have to report annually to councils on their progress and councils will have new powers to block planning proposals from builders who have failed to deliver on the same land.
• Improve our environment and enshrine in law an obligation on water companies to clean up our rivers by upgrading wastewater treatment works. These upgrades will enable housebuilding to be unlocked by reducing the amount of mitigation developers must provide to offset nutrient pollution.
• Give residents a new tool to propose additional development on their street, like extensions to existing homes, through ‘street votes’. Planning permission will only be granted when an independent examiner is satisfied that certain requirements, such as on design, have been met and the proposal is endorsed at a referendum by the immediate community.
• Pilot Community Land Auctions – testing a new way of capturing value from land when it is allocated for development in the local plan to provide vital infrastructure, including schools, roads, GP surgeries and the affordable housing that communities need.

The Minister of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Lucy Frazer, said: “The measures we are setting out will put protecting the environment at the heart of our plans, while bringing forward much needed new homes across the country.”

The government says the plans will deliver the right homes in the right places in keeping with local styles, tackle the scourge of boarded up shops on high streets and make it easier for councils to regenerate disused land to create thriving communities.

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