Andrew Dismore

At today’s London Assembly Plenary meeting, Andrew Dismore AM, London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden challenged Deputy Mayor for Housing James Murray over the need to tackle landbanking, which was slowing down the construction of badly needed homes in the capital. (video here)

Mr Dismore said:

‘The previous Mayor stated that

“To constrict supply to push up prices by land banking is plainly against the economic interests of this city”

And Sadiq’s manifesto promised to:

‘Exercise ‘use it or lose it’ powers to make sure developers who have planning permission build homes and do not land-bank.’

There is therefore a degree of consensus about this serious problem.

‘The Government should support the GLA in tackling landbanking. For example one option would be to allow planning authorities to consider and if necessary shorten, the life of a planning permission, so as to take on developers who unnecessarily sit on housing development land, watching the value go up whilst doing nothing.   Another option is a land value tax, requiring developers to pay if they don’t get on with implementing permission to build new homes.

‘However the issue is not just about sitting on a completely undeveloped site, but can also be the snail’s pace of development, as the Assembly Regeneration Committee saw when we visited Millbrook Park in Mill Hill, the former  MoD Inglis Barracks site.

‘The original planning consent was given in 2011.By the end of last month, 5 years on, out of  the approved 2245 total properties, just 343  – a mere 15.3%- had been built- and not one of those were in the measly 15.6% so called ‘affordable’ allocation. By the end of 2018, the expected total will be just 936 completed out of the 2245 total.

‘It’s clear that the undesirable effect of this is both to slow down the availability of desperately needed homes; and also to ensure that prices continue to rise, with such a tight control of supply over demand.

‘Planning consents should  have not just a start deadline, but a completion deadline too; and I believe the Mayor should be lobbying for the solutions, amongst others,  that I have proposed if we are to make better progress in  tackling London’s housing shortage.’