Currently, 82 per cent of councils have a local plan in place, which dictates how many new homes must be delivered over a set time period.
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Additionally, a new legal duty relating to affordable starter homes will be placed on councils to guarantee delivery on all reasonably sized new development sites.
The prime minister has also launched “Own Your Home”, his homeownership campaign, with a brand new online portal to help people find the right home buying scheme for them.
David Cameron issued a statement from Number 10 on Monday outlining details of what will be contained in the legislation with a fresh commitment to build one million homes by 2020.
She said: “We’re now on track to have the plan signed off for February next year”.
Speaking on the Housing Bill last week, the PM said: “A Greater Britain must mean more families having the security and stability of owning a home of their own”.
Mr Cameron’s new push comes in the week that the Housing and Planning Bill comes before Parliament.
Part of the Bill also includes automatic planning permission “in principle” on brownfield sites to build as many homes as possible, “while protecting the green belt”.
Melanie Leech, British Property Federation chief executive, said: “Local plans provide certainty, which is the holy grail for investors, and ensuring that all local authorities have them in place will undoubtedly have a positive effect on investment”.
The Prime Minister has warned councils they must build thousands of new homes – or the government will do it for them.
“We must explore the different types and tenures of housing that can be delivered and work hard give everyone the chance to own their own home”.
However just 65 per cent of plans have been adopted by local authorities and 20 per cent of areas have no plan in place, according to government figures.
Councils already have to operate under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), introduced in 2013 as a way to cut back on red tape and planning documents. They must also be reviewed regularly, typically every five years, and involve consultation programmes on where new developments go and what they look like. A few sites have been locked up for too long and these measures, coupled with a brownfield register and fund, will get them moving.
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Jeremy Blackburn, head of policy and parliamentary affairs, at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said: “Enforcing local plans and measures to speed up delivery on brownfield sites are things surveyors have long called for, and it is good to see these now coming forward in the Bill. We must combine this with wider measures to increase the supply of affordable and rented properties via councils and housing associations”.
