Letwin: builders of large sites must accept more ‘diversity’ of tenure

It said new planning rules should be adopted for sites of more than 1,500 homes in areas of high housing demand which require builders to “provide a diversity of offerings” of forms of housing.

A ‘national expert committee’ should also be established, Sir Oliver said, in order to advise local authorities on this diversity and arbitrate disputes.

He said the government should make “any future government funding for house builders or potential purchasers on such sites conditional upon the builder accepting a Section 106 agreement [the level of affordable housing provided to receive planning permission] which conforms with the new planning policy for such sites”.

A “small amount of funding” should also be set aside to ensure existing sites do not become unviable as a result of larger demands for affordable housing.

Local authorities should also be given the power to compulsorily purchase land designated for large sites in local plans at a price which reflects the new diversity requirements, Sir Oliver said.

The report, a draft of which was released in June, concluded that it takes 15.5 years on average to build out larger sites – with an even slower rate in London.

On labour, he added: “My conclusion was that an insufficient supply of bricklayers would be a binding constraint in the immediate future if there was not either a substantial move away from brick-built homes, or a significant import of more skilled bricklayers from abroad, or an implausibly rapid move to modular construction techniques.”

He concluded that a “flash” training of bricklayers co-ordinated by the relevant government departments, unions and major house builders was the best means of addressing the issue.