Government ‘Squanders’ Once-In-A-Generation Chance To Ease Housing Crisis

Government has squandered a once-in-a-generation chance to alleviate the housing crisis by failing to develop a strategy for public land disposal, a key Commons committee says. In a warning shot to a new Communities Secretary, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says it is unacceptable that MHCLG pays so little attention to how the release of public land could be used to deliver affordable homes, including social homes for rent. The resulting report says release of public land is not translating into enough actual homes for those who need them. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-squanders-once-in-a-generation-chance-to-ease-housing-crisis/

Watchdog Slams Government Efforts to Free Up Land for Homes

A Government programme designed to free up public land for new homes has been criticised for misleading statistics, a lack of monitoring and the absence of any economic rationale. The damning report from the National Audit Office (NAO) said while on the face of it the Government had met its target to release enough land for up to 100,000 homes by 2015, closer examination revealed fundamental flaws. Among them were the CLG’s 'wide interpretation of the land that could be counted towards the target'. This included land for 15,740 homes that had been disposed of before the programme began. A further 10,783 were included despite being on sites owned by the Royal Mail and British Waterways – which have since left the public sector – and have not been developed.

Read more on the LocalGov website.

First Public Land Pilot Disposal to Bring New Homes to Liverpool

More than 100 new homes are to be built on former railway land in Aintree, Liverpool, after completion of the first public land pilot disposal. The HCA has recently taken on 35 sites from other government bodies as part of a nationwide effort to get public land with capacity for up to 100,000 homes out to market by March 2015. The site was identified within Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council’s 2011 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment as a potential area for sustainable redevelopment. Since taking on the site, the HCA has worked with the council to secure the deal, which will bring a substantial amount of private sector investment to the area and will improve approximately 10 acres of public open space for the residents of Aintree. Read more on the HCA website.