Local authorities want to levy council tax on homes granted planning but not built out
Council leaders have called for new powers to charge developers council tax on unbuilt homes in order to encourage them to build out planning permissions more quickly.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said it wanted the government to include new powers for councils to tax developers in the forthcoming planning Bill, which is expected to form a key part of the Queen’s Speech later today.
The LGA said councils should have the ability to levy council tax on homes that have been permissioned, even if not built out, from the point at which the permission expires.
The body, which represents all of English local government, made the call as it issued updated figures which it claimed showed that more than 1.1 million homes granted permission over the past decade remained unbuilt.
The LGA has long claimed that the planning system is not a barrier to development, contradicting claims by many housebuilders. It says that the volume of unbuilt permissions demonstrates there is no shortage of sites available to build on.
The LGA said 2,782,300 homes have been granted planning permission by councils since 2010/11 but that only 1,627,730 have been built over the same period. In recent years the number of hom