Of 122 council areas covered by the ODPM study, LUCSs and local authority figures only showed the same number in 15 per cent of areas. In a quarter the figure differed by more than 20 percentage points.
Density data from 37 local authority areas found only 20 cases where LUCSs and council figures were within ten homes per hectare of each other.
It recommends that the ODPM should produce a single guidance document for councils and consider how to resource local authority monitoring.
Research on Land Use Change Statistics can be viewed via www.PlanningResource.co.uk.
