Councils to get new powers to boost housebuilding

Councils are to get new powers to deliver thousands of new homes across the country.

New planning changes have been announced to drive new investment for town centres and economic growth for local authorities.

Local councils will be empowered to buy cheaper land through the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders.

The changes mean that councils, Mayoral Combined Authorities and other public bodies, including Homes England, will be able to directly take control of vacant and derelict land from landowners paying a fair price and not inflated ‘hope value’ costs, where they are delivering in the public interest.

Matthew Pennycook, the Housing and Planning Minister, said: “In our manifesto, we committed ourselves to further compulsory purchase reform to deliver more housing, infrastructure, amenity, and transport benefits in the public interest.

“The consultation we are launching today is the next step in fulfilling that commitment – proposing reforms that will make the process faster and more efficient, enabling more land value to be captured and then invested in schemes for public benefit.”