North West developable land shortage among worst in country, says govt

In the North West, 24 out of 39 local authorities have less than 30% of land available, according to the Competition and Markets Authority’s housebuilding market study.

The CMA published its housebuilding market study yesterday. The CMA began work on the report a year ago.

One of the headline findings from the study is that England fell 90,000 new homes short of its 300,000-a-year target last year.

A supporting evidence document filed with the study makes interesting reading for local authorities and developers in the North West.

One of the questions asked was whether enough land is available in the right places to develop homes.

It was noted that the North West and South East have the highest proportion of protected land in England. Of the North West’s land, 53.1% is protected. In the South East, the figure is 49.6%.

The report states: “As London, North West of England, South East of England, and Yorkshire and The Humber had substantially lower land availability compared to other regions, we conducted analysis at a more local level.

“For these regions of England, we analysed the DLUHC land use data at the local authority level, and found that most local authorities within these regions have less than 30% of land available. The reasons for the low availability of land differ across local authorities.”

According to the study, local authorities with the least amount of land available include West Lancashire, South Ribble, Chorley, and Warrington because a large proportion of their land is protected.

The report also found that the density of new houses on previously developed land is relatively low for the North West.

“At the local level, there are several local authorities mostly located in London, the North West of England, the South East of England, Yorkshire and the Humber that have a shortage of potentially developable land.

“However, the above evidence indicates that homes will continue to be built on both previously developed and currently non-developed land, at a higher density in the case of previously developed land.

A percentage breakdown of the land held by housebuilders in short-term land banks was also provided with figures for the North West showing 26.1% is brownfield, and 73.9% greenfield.