Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what surplus land owned by the railway estate has his Department identified as suitable for sale and development; and what steps he is taking to expedite that process.

DfT and its delivery bodies remain committed to identifying and disposing land for housing and to support other government objectives. DfT’s Arms-Length Bodies that have sizeable estates have professional surveyors who oversee and facilitate the disposals.

Network Rail disposed of land for over 9,000 homes as part of the Public Sector Land Programme between April 2015 and March 2020. Since the completion of that programme, they have continued to identify surplus land and maintain a disposals pipeline. Between April 2020 to January 2022, Network Rail have disposed land for a further 1180 homes.