The Conservative party has been accused of adopting Labour policy to rectify their own failings when it comes to new housing delivery.
The government announced earlier this week plans to grant new powers to local authorities to acquire cheaper land without paying inflated ‘hope value’ costs in a bid to boost the number of affordable and social housing being delivered.
Hope value estimates what land could be worth if developed on in the future, with the changes removing these additional costs “in certain circumstances” to make it cheaper and faster for councils to buy and develop land.
However, it has been pointed out that the Labour party last year vowed to abolish hope value within the CPO process if successful at the upcoming general election.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, dubbed the move as “the Tories taking Labour policy to rectify failures in their own policy to deliver homes”.
He continued: “It just shows the desperation in many ways about how to find positive policy initiatives given the poor track record in delivering affordable homes.
“Will it depress prices at a time when, in many parts of the country, prices have fallen or are stagnant? Would that further lower house prices in the surrounding area?”
Ian Fletcher, head of policy of the British Property Federation, said that CPOs were “highly contested already” and that “depriving landowners of hope value is likely to make CPOs even more contested”.
He added: “If you support the measure, you will hail the principle that has been established. If you do not support the measure, you will be concerned at the erosion of property rights.”
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