Labour believes these policies would facilitate their new ‘Freedom to Buy’ scheme which the party hopes will support more than 80,000 young people to buy homes of their own over five years.in his south London constituency of Greenwich and Woolwich, said that new CPO powers for public bodies would combat “unscrupulous speculators” who “stop development coming forward and drive down the amount of public gain” from land.
He added that a clear public interest test will have to be met for CPO to be invoked. As for how a “fair value” will be calculated the shadow minister explained: “The market price of land will be based on fair compensation rather than inflated prices which are linked to the prospect of planning permission in the future.”
Building new housing, particularly homes that can be accessed by younger generations and lower-income households is high on Labour’s agenda. It is something that the Conservative Party failed to crack during its 14 years in power despite repeated attempts to reform planning, most recently headed up by Housing Secretary Michael Gove.
Rachael Williamson, head of policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said CPO reform “would help to tackle the speculative nature of the land market and be vital as part of a wider reform package, unlocking much-needed affordable homes”.they supported Labour’s announcement on CPO reform.
Labour wants to legislate so that public bodies can use CPO powers to acquire land without the need for individual approvals by a Secretary of State. In 2019, the Conservatives committed to a housebuilding target of 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s but never met the target, which has since been dropped.