CHESHIRE East Council is set to ask the government to do more to ‘get Britain building’ and boost housing supply.


The authority is to write to ministers and meet with local MPs in a bid to persuade the government to get developers to deliver house building on land where they already have planning permission.


It follows frustration that some developers are ‘land-banking’ large plots with planning approval for houses and seeking to snap up more greenfield sites – waiting until the market picks up, rather than building homes to meet housing needs.


Cllr Rachel Bailey, Cheshire East Council Cabinet member in charge of the Local Plan, said: “I believe we need to turn the spotlight on to volume house builders and press them to deliver the homes that they have permission for. For too long now we’ve heard arguments from house builders about a shortage of land to develop on.


“East Cheshire has responded to that argument and granted permission for more than 12,500 homes since 2012, yet only 3,300 homes have been built over this period. It’s clear that house builders are not delivering the homes that they themselves say there is such demand for.”