Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement (1) a Land Value Tax, (2) enhanced Compulsory Purchase Orders, (3) land assembly powers, and (4) the recommendations in the report by the APPG on Land Value Capture, Capturing Land Value for the Public Benefit, published in November.

The Government is committed to using existing mechanisms of land value capture as effectively as possible. We have recently introduced major reforms to the planning rulebook to help local authorities capture land value for affordable housing, and make sure developers know the contributions expected of them. At Autumn Budget we also announced further reforms to improve the existing system of developer contributions. The key objectives of these reforms are to make the system of developer contributions more transparent and accountable. However, we recognise more needs to be done, and will continue to explore options to go further. Through the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017, the Government has taken forward wide-ranging reforms to make the compulsory purchase process clearer, fairer and faster for all. We are keen to let these recent reforms bed in but will continue to monitor their practical application. We announced at Budget a £10 million fund to support local authorities that want to establish delivery vehicles that have strong land assembly powers, and in the Summer legislated to enable the creation of locally-accountable New Town Development Corporations. We note the report by the APPG on land value capture, the HCLG Select committee has also recently held an inquiry on Land Value Capture and the Government is due to respond to the Committee’s recommendations shortly.