West Midlands Combined Authority establishes land commission

The independent West Midlands Land Commission (WMLC) will report to the WMCA by the end of the year with recommendations on how to deliver enough public and private sector land to support local housing needs and the combined authority's strategic economic plan.

The WMCA said that: "the delivery of current targets for jobs and economic growth [in the West Midlands] is already constrained by land supply, with the pinch being felt on land for both residential and employment uses".

The WMLC said that it would "take a fresh look at matters affecting the West Midlands' land supply" and "consider what measures could be initiated to ensure an improved supply of developable land".

The new commission has issued a call for evidence, seeking the views of "all parties with an interest in, or knowledge of, land and development in the West Midlands".

Evidence is sought on a wide range of topics, including the viability of brownfield development, "the costs and benefits of green belt land", the potential role of region-wide strategic and economic planning and the impacts of the planning system on land supply in the West Midlands.

The commission is also seeking advice on how best to identify developable land, unlock sites for development and "make more productive use of the public estate". It has asked for information on how infrastructure investment can speed up the delivery of homes and employment space and "the role estates renewal programmes can play in delivering new homes".

Planning expert Matthew Fox of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "In a region where the allocation of land for housing has been controversial the creation of a land commission to help identify land for housing could prove to be of benefit to developers and local authorities."

“However, it will be the robustness of such identification that will be most important element of this work if it is to prove of use to economic and local planning, and so interested parties should consider the submission of evidence in this regard," said Fox. "This news is also notable as the eventual report of the land commission will be one of the first outputs for the WMCA. What will be telling is how the WMCA goes about using the recommendations in the report and how it will be able to require authorities within the WMCA to support identified sites for development.”

“The precise planning powers for the WMCA and its mayor, as well as the relationship of those powers with the local planning authorities, is still not known. So the success of this initiative will very much depend on political will to deliver housing supply in those authorities who are identified as having suitable land that has yet to secure an allocation or planning consent for housing development,” Fox said.

Evidence can be submitted to the WMLC until 30 September, by email to [email protected].