Revealed, Labour’s plan for a ‘ land grab’

LABOUR would force landowners to sell for knockdown prices, it was revealed last night.

Under existing laws, the amount of compensation for land compulsorily purchased by the State is calculated by its value after development.

It means a hectare of agricultural land – which would be worth around £20,000 undeveloped – would sell for around £2million. But Labour would set up a quango, the English Sovereign Land Trust, and give it powers to buy sites at rock- bottom prices which excluded the up-rating after planning consent is granted.

Last night there were warnings that such a move would damage pension funds that invest heavily in land.

Property experts Savills also warned there would be legal challenges to the move as it could breach property rights.

Labour’s housing spokesman John Healey said: ‘The principle behind this idea is simple: the additional value of land publicly created by the granting of planning permission should flow to the local community rather than just as windfall profit to big developers, landowners and land agents.’

Mr Healey’s analysis suggests the move would cut the cost of building 100,000 council houses by almost £10billion to around £16billion.

He told The Guardian it would reduce the cost of building a two- bed flat in Wandsworth, south-west London, from £380,000 to £250,000, in Chelmsford, Essex from £210,000 to £130,000 and in Tamworth in the West Midlands from £ 150,000 to £130,000. A Labour source said the policy was a ‘proposal’ and had not been adopted.

At the weekend Jeremy Corbyn sparked a furious backlash after saying he would tackle homelessness by letting rough sleepers move into empty luxury flats.

Mr Corbyn was asked on BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show: ‘Would a Labour Government perhaps put the empty flats – which are all around – and the homeless people together, and oblige the people who own these flats they can’t sell to let homeless people in them?’

The Labour leader replied: ‘We would give local authorities the power to take over deliberately kept vacant properties.’ Officials later appeared to distance themselves from the remarks.