John Lewis has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to introduce tax breaks for developers that start building immediately.
Writing in The Telegraph, Katherine Russell, the director of build-to-rent at the John Lewis Partnership, said the Chancellor “should look at tax incentives… where a developer commits to building right away”.
She also asked the Government to cut red tape for builders to help the industry meet Labour’s goal of building 1.5m new homes over this parliament.
Russell warned that construction has stalled across the country even as “most people accept the drastic need for new housing”.
“Many good schemes… still continue to be refused,” she added.
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John Lewis is aiming to push into property by building rental homes above its shops.
Last week, the retailer was given the green light to transform its Waitrose site in Bromley, south-east London into a new residential community of 353 rental homes as well as a modernised store.
Russell told the Telegraph that “cutting red tape” would speed up investment in new housing, as would spending the billions of pounds worth of unused development levies.
Local authorities can charge developers a fee for building new properties, and the money is meant to fund local infrastructure like schools and roads.
However, research by the House Building Federation last year found £2.8bn was currently sitting unspent.
It estimated that the property industry pays more than £7bn in direct taxes each year.
The call for tax breaks comes after Labour kicked off a drive last week to get Britain building in a bid to fast-track thousands more first-time buyers onto the property ladder.
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