Some 90% of land owned by the Government that it has pledged to release for new home building in England has been identified within various departments, according to the first report into the surplus land programme.
The aim is to sell land for at least 160,000 homes by the end of March 2020 which was made in a commitment outlined in the Government’s Autumn Statement in 2015 and the report indicates that that is on target.
But the programme is being accelerated. Housing Minister Gavin Barwell said that the Government needs to continue to be ambitious in the year ahead so that it can deliver on its commitment to release land to build much needed new homes.
‘We want to be transparent about the progress being made. These figures cover the first 18 months of the programme up until the 30 September 2016. We are determined to be even more ambitious by not only releasing more land for housing but also by testing new approached to developing land,’ he added.
The data shows that the sale of Ministry of Defence land will contribute capacity for 55,000 new homes, the Department of Transport 38,000 new homes, the Department for Communities and Local Government 36,000 new homes, the Department of Health 26,000 new homes and the Ministry of Justice 5,000 new homes.
Overall, in the period from May 2015 to September 2016 all departments sold land with capacity for 13,817 new homes. The Homes and Communities Agency sold land with the largest housing capacity at 6,618 homes, or 48% of the total sold, followed by Department of Health with land for 3,516 new homes, or 25% of its total.
Barwell explained that work has been undertaken to prepare the land for sale but added that this can be a complex task, linked to broader reform and delivery planning. ‘Before land can be released for development there are several phases departments must work through. This is not always straightforward, and the process varies depending on the ownership and the previous use of the site,’ he said.
For example, land identified by the Ministry of Defence was dependent on a wider review of the future size and shape of the armed forces, and land identified by the Ministry of Justice was dependent on broader changes to court and prison provision in England.
Once a site has been sold, developers obtain detailed planning consent prior to construction. The timing for this varies and can depend on, for example, local market conditions, planning issues and infrastructure requirements.
Another report will be published in July 2017 which will contain more data on the number of homes built on land sold by all land owning departments.
