Labour unveils compulsory land purchasing plans to boost housebuilding

Housebuilding will play a key part in Labour’s plan to help more people get a foot on the housing ladder, and that will mean granting local authorities greater powers to purchase land to develop property.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) has welcomed a pledge from the Labour Party to introduce greater compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to help councils purchase land and boost housing development.

If elected, a Labour government would intends to build 1.5 million new homes within the first five years of entering power, while also increasing funding for local planning officers by £25m.

Shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook told the press: “To boost housebuilding and create great places for people to live, we need to deal with outdated rules that inflate the cost of land to the benefit speculators.

“A labour government will remove ‘hope value’ costs on specific types of schemes that meet a public interest test.”

The NHF is supportive of this policy with CEO Kate Henderson welcoming the pledge.

She added: “Providing more people with access to homeownership should be one part of a holistic approach to solving this crisis, with shared ownership being a key option for first time buyers.

“In order to ensure all have access to the home they deserve, however, this must sit alongside a major investment in a new generation of social homes, the most affordable and secure tenure for people on low incomes, as part of a nationally coordinated fully funded long-term plan for housing.”