My Lords, I thank noble Lords who have participated in this part of the debate, and in particular the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, for so ably speaking to an amendment at short notice. I wish the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, well and I am sorry to hear about her indisposition. As the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, said at Second Reading and reiterated here today, there is one thing on which we are all agreed: the fact that we need more houses. I thank him very much for stressing that this was a probing amendment; I appreciate that point.
Before us are two amendments that take separate approaches to achieving essentially the same important objective of ensuring that once planning permission is granted, the development of the site should be taken forward as quickly as possible. That is absolutely right. Of course there may be circumstances that affect it, but I appreciate that it can be taken care of in legislation. This is what local authorities and the communities that they represent expect. I therefore thank noble Lords and the noble Baroness for putting forward the amendments in this group, which allows to have an important discussion on the question of developers making good on their permissions.
Amendment 25, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, would give local authorities the right to refuse to determine a planning application if a developer already had a live permission in that local authority’s area for 50 homes or more. The amendment targets an issue that the Government are determined to address: the gap between permissions granted and the number of new housing units that are completed. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, that the amendment as drafted is not quite what is needed; to be fair the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, said so too. It is a question of degree—the number of 50, for example, and some of the definitions that would be needed.
We have already taken important steps to tackle delays in the delivery of housing development once planning permission is granted. For example, a key point of concern and delay for many developers is the time taken to comply with planning conditions that can be discharged at a later stage in development, something that this legislation of course seeks to address. Issues with infrastructure can also delay or prevent housing development going ahead. To help tackle this problem, we have already launched the £3 billion Home Building Fund and a separate £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund. The Home Building Fund will
provide loans to small and medium-sized enterprise builders, custom builders and off-site construction, and will unlock large sites throughout England. The Housing Infrastructure Fund will provide investment funding to local authorities to help support the development of necessary site infrastructure, such as water, energy and internet, to deliver up to 100,000 new homes.
5.30 pm
We are also continuing discussions with housebuilders to identify ways of increasing delivery from existing sites and bringing forward more sites, particularly for small builders. These discussions build on the Home Builders Federation statement in May 2016, which set out its plans for increased delivery by major housebuilders.
I recognise that we must do more, not least to hold developers more clearly to account for delivery of new homes on sites they hold with planning permission. Having taken so many measures, obviously the list of potential other reasons for delay is diminishing. Therefore we look to developers to deliver on sites where there is planning permission. That is particularly true of larger developers. In this context, I fully appreciate what the noble Lord seeks to achieve in this amendment and what the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, seeks achieve in the amendment that she has spoken to.
As I have indicated, I have fundamental concerns with this amendment in view of the fact—noble Lords rightly anticipated that I would again say this—that this matter will be addressed in the housing White Paper. It needs a fuller discussion and the housing White Paper is expected very shortly. I suggest that this is not the appropriate vehicle for this issue: it needs a deeper dive and a longer look. In response to a fair speech from the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, I can confirm that the Government see this as a concern and are looking at ways to address it. With that, I ask the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, and the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, who so ably spoke to their amendments, to withdraw or not move them on this occasion.