DEVELOPERS in Mid Devon have failed to start building more than 1,500 new homes even though they have secured planning permission for them.

The situation poses a significant problem for Mid Devon District Council, and others like it, because if work doesn’t start on an approved site, then it doesn’t contribute towards vital data linked to statutory government targets.

Councillor Steve Keable (Liberal Democrat, Taw Vale), the cabinet member for planning and economic regeneration, said a total of 2,056 homes had planning permission in March last year, yet by May this year, three quarters – equivalent to 1,539 – remained unstarted.

“This shows that we as councils can push things through, but people are just not building them,” he said.

“The government wants 1.5 million new homes built as part of its growth agenda, but it already has applications for that many in place [nationwide] but which haven’t been started.”

Even if a site has planning permission, the prospective homes don’t count towards a council’s so-called five-year housing land supply if work hasn’t started.

The government defines this as a supply of specific deliverable sites that are sufficient to provide five years’ worth of housing, a figure itself calculated via the annual housing target a council is required to meet.

Without proof of a five-year supply, when a council comes to decide a potentially controversial planning application it is in a weaker position.

A lack of deliverable sites that prevent a council from claiming it has a five-year supply means that when deliberating new applications, a mechanism known as the “tilted balance” is engaged.

What that essentially means is that even if a proposed development is contradictory to some of the council’s planning policies, those concerns can be overridden by the supposed lack of forthcoming new homes; the weight of the perceived lack of deliverable sites outweighs the potential harm of a new development on the proverbial “tilted balance” scales.

Mid Devon experienced this recently with the controversial scheme for up to 100 homes at Tidcombe Hall, where the council’s rejection of the plan was overturned at planning appeal.

The lack of a five-year housing supply was referenced in the planning inspector’s decision.

“Developers are land-banking permissions they’ve been given and aren’t doing anything with the sites,” Cllr Keable said.

“If developers don’t start them, then they don’t count towards our five-year supply.”

The issue has also been aired at other Devon councils, with Councillor Mike Howe (Independent), who represents Clyst Valley on East Devon District Council and is vice-chair of the authority’s strategic planning committee, suggesting last year that developers should be forced to complete projects within a certain timeframe.

He added that if this date was missed then firms should face a financial cost or the option to give up their planning permission.

The suggestion was put to the council’s cabinet, with leader Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley), who called it an “excellent idea” and pledged to lobby government on the matter.

Cllr Keable added that Mid Devon was “very proactive” in terms of approving planning applications put in front of it, claiming the council was “top of the league for turning around permissions in the whole of the South West”.

As such, he felt the government’s obsession with new applications was misdirected, and that efforts should instead be put into making developers build on the sites they have permission for.

“Developers can just wait for more favourable conditions to emerge before starting work, so we are making representations to government about this, but with the majority they have, they are unserving in terms of their growth agenda,” he said.

Cllr Keable added his frustration about the fact the council had to “almost apply again” for funding to make improvements to J28 on the M5, an infrastructure enhancement that is deemed crucial if more than 5,000 homes are to be built at nearby Culm Garden Village.

“We’ve been waiting for a year for the government to make a decision on the J28 works, but if a decision had been made a year ago on the evidence they already had, we would be in a very different position,” he said.

“The government machine has been slow to allocate investment, and if it doesn’t come through for J28 then Mid Devon District Council will be in a very difficult position as it won’t be able to start the new homes at Culm Garden Village.

“We’re very much relying on those for our five-year land supply figures.”