NHC gives evidence to Select Committee inquiry on land value capture

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Last week, the Northern Housing Consortium’s (NHC) Senior Policy and Research Manager, Tom Kennedy, gave oral evidence to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee, as part of their ongoing inquiry into ‘Delivering 1.5 million new homes: Land Value Capture’.

The inquiry is seeking to understand how land value capture mechanisms, such as Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), can play a role in delivering the government’s target of building 1.5 million new homes across this parliament. The inquiry is also seeking views on how mechanisms such as compulsory purchase can be utilised to support the government’s ‘new towns’ agenda.

The NHC had previously submitted written evidence to the Committee, which can be found here.

In both our written submission and the oral evidence provided to the Committee, the NHC was clear that:

  • Due to generally lower land values across the North of England, land value capture mechanisms, including both Section 106 and the CIL can and will inevitably play a smaller role than elsewhere. In the last 5 years, approximately 30% of new affordable homes in the North have been delivered through Section 106 agreements, compared to more than 50% outside of the North. To increase the supply of new affordable housing in the North, the next Affordable Homes Programme will need to provide a significant increase in the levels of grant funding available to providers.
  • The government can substantially improve the existing land value capture landscape, included through a new long-term rent policy and other incremental reforms, without introducing wholescale, disruptive changes that would negatively impact the new supply of affordable housing, at least in the short term.
  • Increasing local authority planning team resources would significantly improve current land value capture mechanisms, reducing issues such as delays in agreeing and signing Section 106 agreements, and opening up additional opportunities for local authorities to play a more active role in land assembly, including through making more use of compulsory purchase powers.

You can also watch the evidence session on Parliament TV here.