WIREDGOV

Consultation launched on unlocking development.

Views are being sought on measures to speed up the delivery of new homes as part of the Scottish Government’s response to the housing emergency. 

The measures would help accelerate building on sites allocated for development or which have planning permission. They include fiscal incentives to discourage delays and initiatives to fine tune the system to work better for SME housebuilders.

The 2026-27 draft Scottish Budget includes record funding of £926 million for the affordable housing supply programme and a national housing agency, More Homes Scotland, is being set up to help meet the housing need.

Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee yesterday said:  

“Since 2007, the Scottish Government has supported the delivery of 141,000 affordable homes, including 101,000 for social rent.

“But we know that Scotland urgently needs more homes and planning permission is already in place for a significant amount of housing land. We need to encourage construction to start or re-commence on those sites.

“This consultation seeks views on how incentives, clearer expectations and – where appropriate – stronger interventions could help local authorities, developers, landowners and communities undertake and complete more housing developments, more quickly. It builds on existing work to tackle stalled housing sites, support public sector led development, and strengthen planning capacity across Scotland.”  

Background  

The Accelerating Home Building in Scotland consultation is open for responses until 30 April.

A high-level estimate identifies there could be as many as 164,000 housing units with planning permission that haven’t been built out yet for a variety of reasons.

While planning plays an important role in enabling development, evidence shows that a range of other factors, including market conditions, viability, infrastructure constraints, and business decisions can delay or stall buildout after consent is granted. 

The consultation sets out four broad options for change: 

• Fiscal measures to encourage timely buildout of homes on allocated or consented sites 
• Stronger monitoring of buildout rates, with powers to intervene where progress is unreasonably slow. 
• Simplifying planning processes for smaller sites, to reduce costs and delays for SME housebuilders. 
• Encouraging more diverse housing delivery on larger sites, to increase market absorption and speed up development. 

Depending on the outcome of the consultation, any future measures could require new legislation in a future session of the Scottish Parliament, alongside appropriate impact assessments. 

New housing agency to deliver simplicity, scale and speed