‘Tax land-bankers who fail to build’

Town halls across London have called for a crackdown on developers sitting on land but failing to build much-needed homes.

They urged the Government to consider bringing in a tax to discourage the practice, known as “land-banking”.

In July there were almost 125,000 homes with planning permission but which had not been built.

Sir Steve Bullock, housing spokesman for London Councils, representing the 33 local authorities, raised the issue at a Labour conference fringe meeting. He called for an “undeveloped land tax”, levied where planning permission had been granted but no homes built.

Sir Steve said: “It’s frankly unacceptable that developers are hoarding land.

“Cracking down on land-banking could add almost 30,000 homes to London’s stock.”

It came after Ed Miliband announced Labour would give local authorities powers to put a charge on land-banking developers and reclaim the land.