Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 31
3rd Report - Delivering 1.5 million new homes: Land Value Capture
Published 28 Oct 2025
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Delivering 1.5 million new homes: Land Value Capture All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government can only begin to make significant progress towards its 1.5 million target once the sum of local housing need targets in Local Plans add up to that figure. Whilst the Government’s reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework seek to plan for approximately 370,000 new homes per year, local authorities will take several years to transition to this national annual target, as the currently Local Plans take seven years to produce and adopt on average. The Government has stated its ambition to introduce a 30-month plan-making timeline, but the relevant provisions in the Levelling- up and Regeneration Act 2023 to speed up plan-making have still not been implemented. (Conclusion, Paragraph 142)
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, 3rd Report - Delivering 1.5 million new homes: Land Value Capture (HC 672), 28 October 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 20 March 2026 (deadline 28 December 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's inquiry and says it "recognises there is more to do" on developer contributions, accepting some recommendations, noting or not pursuing others, and pointing to its NPPF consultation and wider reforms.
- On Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) coverage, the government "has agreed to the Committee's recommendation and commits to publishing a map of CIL coverage in England", but intends to do so without accompanying information on rates.
- On funded Level 7 planning apprenticeships, the government "notes" the recommendation and considers that funding apprenticeship routes alone "does not guarantee" learners will work in or remain in local planning authorities. It points instead to its Planning Capacity and Capability Programme.
- On planning fees, it does "not consider it appropriate to fund local plan-making through planning application fees". On a statutory Section 106 dispute resolution scheme, it does not intend to implement the 2016 Act provisions "at this time" but "will keep this under review".
- On land value estimates, the government is developing updated estimates and says "the aim is to publish updated values for a range of land uses this year".