Closed petition: Pass house building reforms for construction of 1.4 million approved houses
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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.
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Government responded to this petition
The Government is taking action to speed up build out, bring empty homes back into use and strengthen compulsory purchase powers to support faster housing delivery.
Read the response in full
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 .Our new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-planning-policy-framework
was published on 17 August 2026, and includes a new policy encouraging faster build out, alongside strengthened expectations for mixed tenure development and greater support for small and medium sites in the planning system.We also highlighted in the government response to the NPPF consultation https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/national-planning-policy-framework-proposed-reforms-and-other-changes-to-the-planning-system
that this policy forms part of a wider package of measures to support faster housing delivery, including the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act powers.We want to see more empty homes brought back into use. The new NPPF makes clear that planning decisions should give substantial weight to the benefits of making better use of vacant or under-utilised land and buildings, such as by bringing back into residential use empty homes and other buildings.
Local authorities have a range of powers and incentives available to them to tackle empty homes, including charging additional council tax on properties left empty and unfurnished for a year or more; access to grant funding to bring homes back into use; and levers to enforce an empty property’s sale or take ownership or management of a property.
The government is strengthening the ability of councils’ to bring empty properties back into use by reforming Empty Dwelling Management Orders. We are reducing the period a property must be empty before it becomes eligible for an EDMO from two years to six months, and removing the evidential requirements for local authorities to provide to the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). Together, these changes will simplify the EDMO process, empower local authority empty homes officers to act more decisively and with greater speed, and accelerate the return of empty homes to use.
Compulsory purchase is an important tool for ensuring land required to facilitate development is brought forward in a timely manner. A factor contributing to the failure of local authorities to purchase land by agreement is where landowners have alternative proposals. To support use of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) on these types of sites, the government has commenced a new power which allows CPOs to be conditionally confirmed. This provides for the compelling case for use of a CPO to be established earlier in the land assembly process on sites where alternative proposals have been put forward but are not guaranteed to be delivered. Previously, if a CPO was rejected on the basis that an alternative proposal could be delivered and this was later not built out, the local authority would have to re-establish the case for use of a CPO. This has led to delays in bringing forward development on stalled sites, increased costs for public sector authorities and frustration for communities.
CPOs can also be used by authorities to acquire empty properties where attempts to purchase by negotiation have failed. To speed-up the acquisition of empty properties by use of CPOs, the government has introduced reforms via the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 to ensure quicker decisions on CPOs can be made, the administrative costs of the process are reduced and home loss payment compensation can be excluded where owners of sub-standard properties fail to take action to improve their properties. This Act also includes a power which allows authorities to take earlier possession of empty dwellings by CPOs.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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Petition closed
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This petition will stay open until 30 September 2026.