London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM calls for an end to land banking in London and supports proposals whereby developers will have to use or lose their planning permission. The proposals would help tackle land banking in London by unlocking the 210,000 homes with planning permission but which aren’t being built and would also create the new supply the capital desperately needs. 

The proposals would allow councils to impose escalating fees on developers who refuse to build, backed up by the threat of compulsory purchase orders for the very worst offenders. This would give councils the tools they need to effectively tackle land banking, where developers maximise value by sitting on land instead of building on it. 

The average price for a property in Westminster in June this year was £1,383,459. The annual change in house prices has increased by 19.4 per cent. 

London wide Labour Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM said:

“I welcome these proposals, which outlined some ground-breaking proposals to tackle London’s housing crisis and build the homes that London needs. 

“Use it or lose it planning permission is a fair yet forceful way to shift the 210,000 homes in London which have planning permission but are not being built. Under the current system, developers find it more profitable to sit on land than to build on it. This is an innovative response to the land banking that is much to blame for our housing crisis. 

“The national house building programme is also great news for the capital. London must already accommodate a rapidly rising population, but if the rest of the southeast fails to meet its own needs, particularly for affordable housing, then the pressure on London could be even greater.” 

Notes 

1. Murad Qureshi AM is a London wide Assembly Member.
2. Labour leader Ed Miliband gave his speech at Labour party conference on 24 September 2013.
3. The figures for the average house prices can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/uk_house_prices/counties/html/county39.stm
4. The Greater London Authority’s report Barriers to Housing Delivery identified 210,000 potential homes in London which have planning permission but aren’t being built (GLA, http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/planning/publications/barriers-to-housing-delivery)
5. The Department for Communities and Local Government says only 18,000 homes were completed in London last year (DCLG, Table 253, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building)