You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Land Release Fund is a huge opportunity for housing associations
The sector must play an active role bringing smaller sites into use, argues Jane Gallifent
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has launched its latest plan to increase housing stock.
The new Land Release Fund is a step in the right direction rather than a cure-all, but it does exhibit the kind of thinking we need to meet the growing need for new homes in the UK.
What’s more, housing associations are ideally positioned to make the project a success.
The £54m fund aims to encourage local councils to release some of their unused or surplus land for housing. The funding will be directed to small-scale infrastructure projects or land remediation, helping prepare sites for new schemes.
“There are challenges in housing delivery beyond just the availability of land.”
It is part of the government’s wider aim of releasing enough council-owned land for at least 160,000 homes by 2020, and will be a significant aid in helping deliver 250,000 homes a year.
However, there are challenges in housing delivery beyond just the availability of land. An over-reliance on slow-moving, large-scale development projects has compounded the crisis faced by the UK.
This new move suggests that the government has acknowledged the potential of smaller sites.
Using patches of land in urban and suburban areas that are otherwise unutilised is as important in meeting annual targets as delivering 2,000-home schemes and large-scale regeneration projects.
With this in mind, the proposal is clearly aimed at fulfilling one of the key commitments laid out in the Housing White Paper – that is, the desire to have more diversity in the industry to deliver schemes of different sizes.
Britain has not hit the 250,000 homes a year target since 1978. Back then, 25% of new houses were built by small developers, but that figure has dropped to approximately 12% in recent times.
The new fund could open up more opportunities for small and medium-sized builders. Yet for years, these businesses have faced huge difficulties and very few of them are left.
“This new move suggests that the government has acknowledged the potential of smaller sites.”
This, I would argue, is where housing associations must step in. Our business models allow us to be more flexible than larger developers, meaning we can build schemes of a greater range of sizes.
Aster’s increasing focus on land-led developments is helping us deliver more homes through larger schemes that incorporate multiple tenure types. At the same time, through a part of our business called the Aster Foundation, we support a range of community land trusts to build on smaller sites that might not be considered by large developers.
Of course, Section 106 developments remain a key part of what we do, but the supply shortage is acute and housing associations can have a meaningful impact by adopting a more ambitious outlook – especially given the varying size of scheme we can deliver.
This range of expertise makes housing associations useful partners for private developers, both large and small, as well as for the local authorities looking to release land through the new fund. Such partnerships help deliver projects at a faster pace through collaboration and by spreading the initial financial risk.
DCLG’s release of land is a further, welcome push by the government to help delivery rates. If the industry as a whole is to utilise these sites, the sector must play an active role.
Through partnerships and collaboration, we can make the most of each new piece of land on the table.
Jane Gallifent, development and sales director, Aster Group
