Over the last 10 years, I have seen developers landbanking and abandoning brownfield sites that have previous industrial uses for easier-to-develop green land. The brownfield sites cause issues then for the local community. Some have dangerous buildings, unkept trees and fencing adjacent to the highways and private properties. Run-off of water and contamination to highway drains make a community seem uncared for. They are ideal sites for development of houses, which would improve the viability, sustainability and well-being of communities. 

If a brownfield site or greenfield site is included in a development plan, it increases in value. Once it has planning permission, it can then increase by four or five times the original cost of that land. Introducing a vacant land tax for those that have allocated sites and/or planning permission, and have stalled, would help stimulate development of them, and make them more of a priority. The tax could then be used to pay for the administration and training within overly-stretched planning authorities. It could be part of a package of other measures, such as decreasing or waiving 106 contributions, if it is a brownfield site. 

And it's now time, I think, that we move forward with this and start using up all the brownfield sites allocated. Thank you.