Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2017 to Question 51988, what proportion of that Government land which is planned for release for building homes is within Bristol; what proportion of land in Bristol is owned by Government departments; and how much of that land so owned is suitable for the building of homes.

As set out in the Public Land for Housing Annual Report, by 30 September 2016 the total housing capacity of land either identified for sale or already sold by all departments contributing to the programme was 145,492, against a target of 160,000 units. A total of 101 of these units are in Bristol. This does not include local authority owned land.

Cabinet Office records show that central government owns 945 hectares of freehold land and buildings in Bristol, comprising of 145 separate sites. This represents 2.3 per cent of land in the area.

Not all of this is surplus and it would be for the local planning authority to determine what land is suitable for housing.