More public sector land made available to build new homes

The government has announced that 600 acres of publicly owned land is being made available to build new homes.

It has identified 80 sites that will be put up for sale over the next 18 months. It is estimated these sites will support more than 5,000 homes as well as land for industry and business. Over 20% of the sites already have outline or detailed planning permission.

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said: “Using surplus public sector land for housing has helped us get the country building again with the number of new homes up by 25%.

“Selling off these sites will allow us to go even further, delivering on our ambition to support a further 160,000 homes, while providing a significant boost to local economies and the taxpayer.”

The sale of the land will be administered by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). Its Chief Executive, Andy Rose, said: “We will use our commercial expertise and local market knowledge to make land attractive to house builders, to help get homes built more quickly and meet local priorities.”

In addition to releasing the land, the government has also announced that it’s providing a £1.2 billion Starter Home Fund to prepare brownfield sites for new homes. The fund will fast-track the creation of at least 30,000 new Starter Homes and up to 30,000 market homes on 500 new sites by 2020.

Please contact Shyam Patel and Gary Baber if you would like advice about the legal aspects of buying or selling home.