Housebuilders' Report Hits Back At Labour Party's "Hoarding" Claim

Fri, 09th May 2014 11:34

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK housebuilders Friday hit back at the Labour Party's criticism that they hoard land, publishing research which they say shows developers are not building on only a small percentage of land which could be under construction.

According to their trade body, The Home Builders Federation, of the 220,000 plots held in the land banks of the 23 major companies it surveyed, only 4% of plots have what it called ?implementable? planning permission where work has not yet started on site.

The Federation said 31% or 68,500 plots had been given planning approval, rather than detailed planning permission, so builders can not legally start building, while 63% were on sites where construction work is underway.

It said 2% of plots are on sites not being developed because they are not ?economically viable?.

The report comes amid pressure on housebuilders to ramp up construction of new homes as the nation attempts to tackle its chronic lack of supply especially in London and the South East. In December, Labour Party leader Ed Miliband accused some of England's largest housebuilders of posting huge profits but ?hoarding? land for which planning permission has been received.

In a speech to coincide with the launch of an independent review into a lack of housing, Miliband said profit for England's biggest housing developers, Barratt Developments PLC, Berkeley Group Holdings PLC, Persimmon PLC and Taylor Wimpey PLC ?are going through the roof".

"They have soared 557% since this government took office - even though homes have been built at their slowest rate witnessed in peacetime for almost a century," Miliband said in December.

?But there are large amounts of land ? enough to build more than a million homes - earmarked for houses which have not been built. Developers need a bank of land with which to work. But sometimes they, and other landowners, are hoarding it," he added.

Miliband said if Labour were elected in 2015, councils would be allowed to expand beyond their current boundaries to provide new housing.

Under its proposals, councils will be given powers to charge fees or purchase land from developers, telling them to "use it or lose it".

However, HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley said Friday's report is the latest of many to ?debunk the myth? that housebuilders hoard land.

?When you look beyond the rhetoric and the lazy accusations, the facts are quite clear: house builders do not hoard land or landbank unnecessarily. The debate really needs to be about how we get the land in the planning system through more quickly to build the homes we need and not about myths,? he said.

Baseley said the planning system is ?complex, bureaucratic, costly and time consuming? and as a result, housebuilders have to have a pipeline of land coming through the planning system to enable them to plan their businesses.

By Anthony Tshibangu; anthonytshibangu@alliancenews.com; @AnthonyAllNews