Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Fine land hoarders to encourage rural housebuilding, say farmers
Lobby group ‘manifesto’ also seeks abolition of stamp duty for first-time buyers
Property developers who sit on land should be fined by the gov government to promote housebuild housebuilding in the countryside, say farm farming campaigners.
Pressure group Rural plc Kent says the stockpiling of real estate is making it more difficult to build affordable homes for those who want to live and work in agricultural and horticultural areas.
It set out the demands in its rural manifesto for the general election, which claims the sector is misunderstood, undervalued and “frequently dismissed as of no consequence”.
As well as considering fines for developers who stockpile building land, it says the government should reward “the development of brownfield and other such sites, the conversion of obsolete farm and other buildings”.
Last year the Local Government Association, which represents councils, suggested there
‘We have got to find a way of housing people in areas where they want to work’
were sites for 500,000 homes in England which had been given planning permission but were yet to be built.
Rural plc Kent’s resources director, George Jessel, who is high sheriff of Kent and owns a farm in Brabourne, near Canterbury, said: “Young farmers and graduates want to have a rural job but the cost of housing in a local village close to work is too high.
“They rely on the bank of mum and dad to support them, and the government should be helping people to buy a house.
“Developers are buying huge chunks of land and – because of the economic slowdown – are not building houses where they are needed.
“How do we break that deadlock? We have got to find a way of housing people in areas where they want to work.”
Mr Jessel also called for the removal of stamp duty for firsttime buyers.
The notion of developers stockpiling land was rejected by Nick Fenton, chairman of Kent Developers Group, which represents housebuilders in the county.
He said: “We need to encourage rural development, but I don’t believe developers are sitting on land.
“I’m sure there are examples of it, but some of the figures include sites which are waiting on plan- ning permission and some have planning conditions that need to be met first.
“Also when you give a largescale planning permission for thousands of homes, such as at Ebbsfleet, that won’t happen overnight.
“Usually, you will get 40 to 50 units per year. Kings Hill is managing about 150 units a year, and I can’t see how anyone else could produce much more.
“We need to encourage the development of rural homes, but it is not about accusing developers of sitting on land.”