Asked by: Baroness Ford (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much public land held by central government departments and their agencies has been disposed of for house building since 2012, broken down by department.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is committed to addressing the supply of new land for housing. That is why we have set an ambitious commitment to dispose of surplus government-owned land in England with the capacity for at least 160,000 homes by 2020.
As of the end of June, central government departments and their agencies had identified enough land for approximately 139,000 homes. Of this, land with the capacity for an estimated 11,691 homes has already been disposed of. We will be publishing an annual report setting out detailed progress towards the commitment later this year, and will also monitor the broad progress of development on sites released through the programme. The report will include data showing land released for housing since 2012, broken down by department.
This builds on our previous Public Sector Land programme in the last Parliament, where between 2011 and 2015, central government departments and their agencies disposed of land with capacity for 109,590 homes.
Asked by: Baroness Ford (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the target date for the 73 councils across England to complete their brownfield registers.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The local planning authorities piloting the preparation of local brownfield registers were asked to complete their registers by the end of June 2016.
Asked by: Baroness Ford (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authorities (1) have applied for Secretary of State consent for discretionary landlord licensing schemes since new rules were introduced in 2015, and (2) have applications pending.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Since April 2015, my Department has received three large selective licensing applications from the following local authorities: London Borough of Redbridge, Burnley Borough Council and Peterborough City Council. There are currently no applications pending.
Asked by: Baroness Ford (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many requests have been received from local authorities in the last three years for permission to sell land at undervalue under section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972; and whether those requests were granted or refused.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Secretary of State has received 41 requests from local authorities since September 2013 for permission to sell land at undervalue under section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972. Of the requests received, 25 were granted, 6 were withdrawn, and 7 considered to be either invalid or the Secretary of State declined to determine. The remaining 3 cases are currently under consideration.