Communities Secretary to urge release of surplus land for housebuilding

Greg Clark wants more sites allocated for building 150,000 in the next five years.

Communities Secretary, Greg Clark wants the various Whitehall departments to “loosen their grip” on sites that are not in use so that housebuilding can be accelerated, and he will set out these plans this week.

As well as Whitehall, the Communities Secretary wants all of the councils in the country to investigate all sites that they are in control of and see if any of these can be released to increase the new homes for their various communities.

Brownfield sites will be targeted by Mr Clark, who wants to make sure that the land provided for housebuilding is enough to see 150,000 new homes constructed by 2020.

Ahead of the Housing Taskforce meeting for the first time, Mr Clark said: “The chance to own your own home should be available to everyone who works hard and aspires to. This is what a Government for working people is about – making sure people have the security they need to build a brighter future for them and their families.

“The scale of our ambition is clear: to release enough surplus and redundant public sector land for 150,000 homes over the next five years.”

He underlined that councils should investigate how to “make better use” of their surplus land, adding: “I want to see departments going further and faster than before, starting right away, to loosen their grip on sites that are standing idle and to turn them over for housebuilding.

“Councils are significant landowners and town halls should be looking at their estate, particularly brownfield sites, and thinking about how they could make better use of their holdings by releasing land for new homes for their communities.”

According to figures recently released, new housing starts are at their highest level since 2007 and already, the amount of land released is enough to create more homes than the Prime Minister targeted in 2011.

Already, there is enough land to build 103,000 homes – 3,000 more than the original target – but now the ambition is to provide land in the next five years to create 150,000 homes.

The drive to gain possession of the land needed is well underway, with 150 sites targeted for building on by the Homes and Communities Agency and the Department for Communities and Local Government, which could see 14,000 new homes constructed.

In the last five years, 146 sites have been identified and at the meeting of the Housing Taskforce, Mr Clark will encourage ministers to look in detail at sites to guarantee any possible plot for housebuilding is released.

Councils are cooperating already, with Bristol City Council, Surrey County Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council amongst those who have already released land or are in the process of doing so.

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis, echoed Mr Clark’s thoughts, urging councils and town halls to release land.

He said: “Housebuilding is at an eight-year high, with construction starts up 5% over the last year alone. We must maintain this momentum.

“A key way we’re doing that is by looking again at the land Government departments own, with enough land released over the last Parliament for 103,000 homes.

“Over the next five years, we’re going to go further and faster – but where Whitehall is leading, town halls should follow, ensuring their land can be put to good use to deliver new homes across the country.”

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