Pass house building reforms for construction of 1.4 million approved houses

We ask the Government to introduce mandatory build-out timeframes for approved sites, apply stronger penalties at sites where there has not been progress, pass “use it or lose it” planning permissions, strengthen compulsory purchase powers, and greater support to tackle long-term empty homes.

This is for the 1.4 million houses, that according IPPR analysis, have been granted permission since 2007 but remain unbuilt. We believe communities should not be asked to release further countryside while previously approved sites remain stalled. Despite this, local authorities are being required under the NPPF to allocate additional land, including greenfield and green belt sites, to meet housing targets. We believe housing needs should be met through delivery, not increasing land supply.

To significantly boost housing delivery, we must close the gap between the amount of land allocated and permissioned and the number of homes being completed. The Competition and Markets Authority and others have concluded that most homes in England are not built as fast as they can be constructed, once permission is granted, but only as fast as the developer expects to sell them at local second-hand market prices. This leads to a build out rate for large sites which can take decades to complete. While it is commercially rational for developers to operate in this way, the systemic impact is a lower level of housebuilding than is needed. That is why the government is taking action to speed up built out.

In May 2025, we published a Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out inviting views on further action the government should take to speed up homes being built. It can be found on gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/planning-reform-working-paper-speeding-up-build-out/planning-reform-working-paper-speeding-up-build-out. On the same day, we launched a technical consultation on implementing measures from the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to improve the transparency of build rates from new residential developments, including commencement notice and development progress reports as well as the power to decline to determine applications where build out has been unreasonably slow. That consultation can be found on gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementing-measures-to-improve-build-out-transparency-technical-consultation .