Housing experts have welcomed the government’s announcement this week to release unused public land to builders for development on a ‘buy now, pay later’ basis.
The Public Expenditure Committee, a Cabinet Committee chaired by Francis Maude, will go through each department’s plans to make sure every possible site is made available for housebuilding.
Alongside this, property specialists from across government will work with each department and challenge them to release as much land as they can for new homes. Ministers are also encouraging councils to follow the lead set by central government and make their unused land available for development.
Later this year, a new map will be launched to show land and buildings owned by public bodies in each area. A new Community Right to Reclaim Land has been introduced enabling residents to apply to organisations including central government departments and councils to bring their sites back into use – opening up the books so local people can see for themselves the assets held by central and local government alike.
