Thousands of affordable homes have been granted planning permission in Cornwall but only one in 10 are actually being built. 

New figures show that there are currently more than 5,000 homes which have been approved but have not started construction.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) submitted a Freedom of Information request to Cornwall Council to find out how many affordable homes had been approved but not been built. 

The response from the council indicates that there are 6,383 extant planning permissions for affordable homes and 5,808 have not yet started. Just 575 of the affordable homes are currently under construction.

With more than 20,000 households in Cornwall currently on the housing waiting list the new figures show that if all the affordable homes which have planning permission in Cornwall were built then that waiting list would fall by a quarter.

Olly Monk, Cornwall Council cabinet member for housing, said that he hoped that new government legislation could help local councils do more to ensure that affordable homes which are granted planning permission are actually delivered. When told how many affordable homes had planning permission but had not been built he said he thought “it might be more”.

He said: “There are a number of reasons people don’t go ahead with planning permissions once they have them, the worst one is when people landbank – getting planning permission and then using that as a way of selling it on.

“The government white paper on planning reform is looking at making developers having to pay the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL, which requires developers to pay for services) money upfront with the planning application.

“If you are trying to build 100 homes and 30 per cent are affordable and the CIL is required, if you pay upfront it is a real incentive that you have to then start to build the thing you are applying for.

“There is also a plan to put time limits on planning applications as well which will encourage developers to build once they have planning permission rather than just sitting on it – that is part of the government white paper and is something I think could help us.”

Cllr Monk agreed that by getting all the affordable homes which have planning permission built could help ease the current housing crisis in Cornwall. “We need to find a way to move them forward so that any applications made actually result in a shovel being put in the ground and houses being built.”

The cabinet member said that a large number of the affordable homes which have planning permission could be linked with large scale developments such as Langarth Garden Village near Truro and Nansledean near Newquay and so may not be likely to be built until later on.

However, he said that did not mean that the council would want to see any delay in the building of affordable homes in Cornwall. “We need to start looking at the processes that we have got and find ways of bringing these developments forward in a more timely manner. If people get planning permission for affordable homes we want them to start building those houses.”