Government ahead of schedule for releasing land
Housing minister Grant Shapps has told MPs that the government is ahead of schedule in its plans to release public land to build 100,000 new homes.
Giving evidence at the Communities and Local Government select committee’s enquiry into the supply of new housing, Mr Shapps said that enough land to provide 80,000 new homes had already been found.
Hailing the success of the scheme that has seen government departments hand over land to house builders, Mr Shapps said: ‘The upshot is that we are getting close [to providing 100,000].
‘We are at 80,000 at the moment and I would describe that as being ahead of where we thought we’d be.’
He also sought to encourage house builders and public bodies to take up the ‘build now, pay later’ model, which allows them to only pay for land once work has begun on new homes, describing the deal as a ‘win-win-win’ situation.
‘The prime minister and I are very enthusiastic about build now, pay later,’ he told the committee. ‘I’m keen to say to local authorities that there’s not much benefit to hanging on to land. We should no longer pride ourselves on how much HM land we have; we would rather have the nation housed.’
Inside Housing is calling for more public land to be made available for house building through our Get on our land campaign
