If the Labour party is elected into office next year, it plans to give local authorities the right to buy land at a fraction of its potential value for development. The proposition is part of its ‘pro building’ agenda.
Under current rules, councils can issue compulsory purchase orders to acquire land but the price they are required to pay must reflect its so-called ‘hope value’, a premium put on land that reflects its potential value once it has been granted planning permission. In 2018, a survey by the impartial organisation, Centre for Progressive Policy, found that planning permission caused agricultural land to be inflated from £22,520 per hectare to £6.2 million per hectare.
The proposed changes would continue to allow authorities to buy land under compulsory purchase orders, but they would not be forced to pay hope value. Labour also plans to allow more house build on green belt land.
Labour says it will also reinstate the mandatory house building targets scrapped in 2022 by the housing secretary, Michael Gove, who dropped his party’s mandatory target of building 300,000 new homes each year after communities were forced to build new homes. The move caused delays by several local authorities while others reduced building plans in their area. As a result, house building this year is thought likely to fall to levels not seen for many decades.
The conservatives have previously proposed making changes to allow the housing secretary to cap hope value payments on a case-by-case basis. If approved, the changes will be included in an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regenerations Bill which is currently passing through the House of Lords.
Whether driven by a Labour or Conservative government, any changes to planning laws including hope value will add to the concerns already expressed by land and property owners. MPs have themselves balked at changes to planning laws that might upset their constituents and threaten their re-election.