lyons housing review

8/10/2019 Lyons Housing Review

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The Independent Housing Commission led by Sir Michael Lyons

Call for Evidence

The country is in the midst of the biggest housing crisis in a generation. We are buildingless than half the number of homes we need to keep up with demand.

This housing shortage plays a central part in the cost of living crisis, leaving millions ofworking people unable to afford the homes they want. Back in 1997 it took an averagefamily just three years to save for a proper deposit on a home but today it takes 22 years.

If home ownership is to be a realistic aspiration for working people, and rents are to beaffordable, then we will need a step change in the scale of house building in England.

At the Labour Party Annual Conference Ed Miliband announced his plans for a LabourGovernment to increase the supply of new homes in England above 200,000 a year by theend of the next Parliament.

To ensure plans to achieve this ambition are in place on day one of a Labour Government,a Housing Commission chaired by Sir Michael Lyons has been asked to draw up a road

map that will set out the changes to housing and planning policies and practice that arerequired to deliver the new homes and communities we need.

Sir Michael is seeking evidence from a range of individuals and organisations across thehousing and planning world and beyond on the structural barriers to, and solutions for,bringing about a step change in housebuilding. Sir Michael is particularly focused on anumber of key questions as outlined below.

1. The land market - unlocking land for housing development

The high cost of housing is largely driven by the high cost of land. For too long, we have notbeen releasing enough land for housing development and by the time this land is given

planning permission it is often prohibitively expensive. Our planning system therefore oftengifts very large windfalls to those able to get planning permission for housing.

This creates incentives to hoard and speculate in land and has also led to a developmentsector that can often prioritise trading land, over building decent homes.

The Commission will consider;

How do we get much more residential land to market and what are the bestmechanisms to achieve this?


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How can we ensure that the land brought to market is available for development and notsimply landbanked?

How will a use it or lose it power for local authorities to discourage land banking beimplemented?

Given the consensus that our current development industry is not capable of delivering

the homes we need, how can we bring about greater capacity, competition and diversityto ensure it can deliver the homes our country so badly needs?

2. Investment in housing and associated infrastructure

To ensure a step-change in housebuilding reform of our housing and planning system isessential, but greater investment, public and private, into housing and associatedinfrastructure is also crucial:

The current structure of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) system is overlybureaucratic and is hampering sound investment in social housing. What flexibilitiesthrough the HRA and in other areas could be granted to local authorities so they can

build more homes?

What are the barriers to greater private investment, particularly long-term investment.How much investment must we attract and through what mechanisms? What part caninstitutional investment play?

3. The role of a new generation of New Towns and Garden Cities

The UK has never delivered a large uplift in house building without large scaledevelopment, like the post-war new towns.

What contribution can a new generation of New Towns and Garden Cities make to astep-change in housebuilding?

What are the barriers to, and solutions to ensure, their effective delivery in terms of:

o Financing new settlements;

o Land and land value capture;

o Infrastructure.

What are the most effective and appropriate mechanisms/agencies for delivery?

How can a local authority or groups of authorities best be incentivised to come forwardand identify locations capable of sustaining large scale sites for New Towns and GardenCities?

4. A new right to grow

At present, some communities want to grow to meet local housing demand but do not havethe land within their Local Authority boundary to do so. Too often neighbouring authoritieswhose cooperation is needed block the building of badly needed homes.


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How can we ensure that Local Authorities that want to expand, but do not have the landon which to grant planning permission without cooperation from a neighbour, are able todo so?

What are the incentives, disincentives and requirements (and what is the correct mix)that should be used to ensure cooperation between Local Authorities to cooperate in ajoint-planning process in their areas?

5. Share the benefits of development with local communities:

Despite various attempts there remains a mismatch between national and regional need forfurther house building and the incentives local communities and councils receive whengranting permission for specific developments, especially for major developments like newtowns. There are huge windfall profits from the granting of planning permission but theseare captured by landowners. Agricultural land is valued at under 20,000/hectare, whileland with residential planning permission is valued at around 2,000,000/hectare anincrease of over 10,000 per cent.

Is the current planning gain system fit for purpose and what alternatives exist?

How can we ensure that a larger share of the windfall gains from planning permissiongoes to local communities?


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The Expert Panel

Sir Michael has appointed an expert Panel to advise him when reviewing evidence anddeveloping his conclusions. This Expert Panel has been drawn from across the housingindustry and government and brings together a wealth of knowledge and practicalexperience of housing delivery. The Expert Panel comprises:

Sir Michael Lyons Tom Bloxham, Chairman and Co-Founder, Urban Splash.

Mark Clare, Group Chief Executive, Barratt Developments Plc.

Julia Evans, National Federation of Builders.

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive, Town and Country Planning Association.

Bill Hughes, Legal and General.

Grania Long, Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Housing.

Simon Marsh, Head of Planning Policy, RSPB.

David Orr, Chief Executive, National Housing Federation.

Richard Parker, Partner and Head of Housing, PwC.

Malcolm Sharp, Immediate Past President, Planning Officers Society.

Ed Turner, Deputy Leader, Oxford City Council.

Prof. Cecilia Wong, Professor of Spatial Planning, University of Manchester.

Working groups which have already been set-up by Shadow Ministers will also inform thework of the commission.

Contact usResponses to the Call for Evidence should be submitted [email protected] online at lyonshousingreview.org.ukby 28February 2014.

A programme of meetings and roundtables will then be held with selected respondents inSpring. The Lyons Housing Review is a private body. Responses to the Call for Evidencewill not therefore be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Further details of the Lyons Housing Review can be found at the websitelyonshousingreview.org.uk.

The independent Lyons Commission is supported in its work by the Fabian Society.

Reproduced from electronic media and promoted by and on behalf of the Labour Party, One Brewers Green, London SW1H 0RH.

lyons housing review

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