East Devon Council pushes for legal changes

East Devon District Council is considering putting pressure on the government to change the law so that unfinished developments are completed sooner.

Councillors routinely express frustration that some developers start building work, but then halt progress, often for financial reasons.

This can be problematic for authorities which have to show that they have approved a certain number of homes per year, and crucially, that they have five years’ worth of land that is going to be developed.

If work on some land stops, this can put pressure on councils to approve more applications to meet that five-year requirement.

Cllr Mike Howe (Independent, Clyst Vale), vice chair of the strategic planning committee, suggested that developers should be forced to complete projects within a certain timeframe, and if this date was missed then they should face the prospect of a financial cost or the option to give up their planning permission.

“I’ve long held the belief that if an applicant gets planning permission and they make a material start but don’t continue to build, that after three or five years, even if it is not completed, they should have to start paying business rates or council tax,” he said.

“I believe there needs to be a carrot and stick approach as I don’t think developers should be able to sit on a site and not pay any council tax or rates on it.

“And if they don’t want the site any longer, then they should have the option to rescind their planning permission so they don’t have to pay the charges on it.”

Ed Freeman, an assistant director of the council’s planning department, said this was not something the council could pursue by itself, and that legislation would be needed to be able to charge business rates or council tax on buildings that don’t yet exist.

The strategic planning committee agreed to ask the cabinet to ask the government to consider passing legal changes to incentivise developers to complete the sites they have planning permission for within a maximum timeframe.