The Rt Hon Sir Oliver Letwin MP was appointed by the Government
to lead an independent review of build out.
Its purpose was to explain the significant gap between housing
completions and the amount of land allocated or permissioned in
areas of high housing demand and make recommendations for closing
it.
He published an interim report in June 2018 and his
final report was released alongside the Budget 2018.
Rejecting calls from some in the sector that would force
builders to release property onto the market faster than it could
be "absorbed", thus reducing sale prices, the final report
concludes that the way forward is to increase the diversity of
development on large sites, by requiring a greater mix of dwelling
types and tenures. He proposes that the Government
should:
- Adopt a new set of planning rules applying to all future sites
over 1500 units in areas of high housing demand, requiring those
developing such sites to provide a diversity of offerings, in line
with diversity principles in a new planning policy document;
and
- Establish a National Expert Committee to advise local
authorities on the interpretation of diversity requirements for
large sites
ARCH Policy Adviser, Matthew Warburton has produced a more
detailed ARCH Policy Briefing on the Letwin
Report for ARCH members and a copy of the full report can be
downloaded from the Government website.