Councils given powers to hold rogue developers to account

Other measures introduced include unlimited fines against developers who fail to comply with planning permission or refuse to deal with rundown properties and overgrown fields.

The powers include increasing enforcement limits from four to 10 years, so councils have more time to stop developments without planning approval.

The government has also doubled the length of temporary stop notices to 56 days to suspend all works if a council suspects building has gone ahead without permission being granted.

The new powers allow the Planning Inspectorate to dismiss appeals against developers trying to delay the process, including the refusal of site visits and access.

Lee Rowley, minister for housing and planning, said: “Today marks another important step forward in our mission to deliver a faster and less bureaucratic planning system, making sure councils have greater powers at their disposal to take robust action against developers who do not play by the rules.

“We are clamping down on planning loopholes, allowing councils to issue unlimited fines, and strengthening local decisions that communities want to see. This builds on our long-term plan for housing to deliver more homes and infrastructure that is beautiful, affordable, and built in the right places.”

The government said these powers will work alongside wider measures introduced through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act that require developers to “help deliver vital infrastructure”, including schools and doctors’ surgeries.

The act also brings forward new laws to encourage developers to get on with building more homes, providing regular updates on progress and giving councils the chance to consider slow build-out rates when granting planning approval.

Government said that the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act remains at the heart of its long-term plan for housing, which it said is “modernising the planning system, reducing delays, and giving councils more powers to clamp down on rule-breaking developers”.

In July last year, the bill for the act was amended to ensure that local planning authorities “must seek to ensure” that affordable housing funding is maintained or exceeded when the new levy is introduced. 

Baroness Scott of Bybrook, a minister at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, tabled amendments to the bill related to the proposed Infrastructure Levy.

This was to address concerns raised that it would lead to fewer affordable homes being delivered, with the sector welcoming the changes.

When speaking at the final evidence session of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee’s inquiry into the finances and sustainability of the social housing sector, which was opened in March, Baroness Scott said that the government’s Infrastructure Levy will not diminish the money that goes into social housing delivery.

“I think the changes that have come with the [Infrastructure] Levy mean that more will be connected to housing as a whole,” she said at the evidence session.

“If it is housing as a whole, then social housing will also be a part of that. Infrastructure used to be very much connected with business and not necessarily with the housing that the businesses needed. I think it is important that we think about the housing that people need, and if we are going to do that, social housing will obviously be part of the discussion.”