Plan to make it easier for councils to seize land for housing

Councils are to be given greater powers to seize land, under government plans to boost housebuilding.

The measure is part of the flagship Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which has been introduced in Parliament and aims to speed up building.

Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said he wanted greater use of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), which allow public authorities to acquire land without the consent of the owner.

Currently, councils buying sites through CPOs must factor in the “hope value” – the potential value if planning permission for development is secured – and this is set to be axed to allow land to be bought at a lower price.

However, rural campaign groups raised concerns farmers could be forced to sell at knock-down prices and that green spaces could be lost.

Victoria Vyvan, president of the Country Land and Business Association said the “expensive, slow and bureaucratic planning system” was what was preventing land sales by her members, who “strongly believe that a small number of homes should be built in a large number of villages”.

She added: “In removing hope value from compulsory purchases, the government wants farmers to pay for a housing crisis they didn’t create.

“We doubt house builders contracted by councils will be taking a lower profit, so once again farmers will be the only part of the supply chain to lose out.”

Paul Miner, head of planning and policy at CPRE, the countryside charity, said the group supported the use of CPOs to build genuinely affordable homes on previously developed land.

But he added: “Compulsory purchase shouldn’t be used to enable the development of valued countryside and local green spaces.”

Responding to such fears, Pennycook told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was “somewhat mystified” by this interpretation, saying CPOs would be used “far more often” for regenerating brownfield – or previously developed – land.

“We think it’s right these powers are more widely used and it will be for local authorities to make the decisions about what land is appropriate for those powers to be used on,” he added.

A requirement for the secretary of state to sign off on CPOs will be removed “in certain instances”, he said, adding that the legislation would be “transformative” in unlocking construction for new homes, roads, rail and renewable energy projects.

The bill also aims streamline the planning process, with more decisions made directly by officers rather than councillors.

However, councils have raised concerns this could mean they will be shut out of the democratic planning process.

Richard Clewer, housing and planning spokesperson at the Country Councils Network, said he welcomed changes to CPOs as a “useful tool”.

However, he said changes to the planning process could “dilute and bypass the role of councillors”, particularly with rural developments where a few new homes could make a significant impact.

Defending the plans, Pennycook said “expert planning officers” would support elected councillors with technical detail and allow councillors to focus on larger, more controversial applications.

The government has promised to build 1.5 million new homes in England over the next five years, with the pledge key to boosting economic growth.

However, the number of new homes continued to fall during the first six months that Labour was in power, with the construction industry warning the country does not have enough workers to deliver on the target.

Pennycook said the inheritance from the previous Conservative government was “dire” but there were “very positive signs” and “green shoots coming forward” in the number of planning applications being submitted.

Other measures in the bill include:

• Up to £2,500 off energy bills for people living within 500m of new pylons
• Streamlining the process for approving key projects like wind farms, roads or railways and banning multiple “meritless” legal challenges.
• Allowing “ready-to-go” energy projects to jump to the front of the queue for grid connections, replacing the current “first come, first served process” which the government says has clogged up the system

Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the plans would be “backing the builders” and “taking on the blockers” to create “the biggest building boom in a generation”.

She told the BBC that cutting the number of bodies which get a say in planning decisions would prevent some cases of “ludicrous” rejections.

Officials will consult on removing Sport England, the Theatres Trust and the Garden History Society from the list of “statutory consultees”, who are legally required to provide advice on decisions.

The government said in some cases organisations were slowing down building, giving the example of a housing development in Bradford which was delayed because the application was thought to have not adequately considered the speed of cricket balls from a nearby club.

“We can’t have nonsensical approaches that mean people’s houses can’t be built because of a stray cricket ball,” Rayner said, adding: “We need to have a common sense approach.”