Cameron Reannounces Old Land Releases

The government tomorrow will announce plans to release public sector land for 100,000 thousand homes over the next 4 years.

Three sites are mentioned in the press release

– a former hospital at Fairmile in Oxfordshire, but development here has already begun

– New Covent Garden Market, south London, this site is already included in the London Plan & the adopted Wandsworth Core Strategy – a site of this scale will take 15 years not 4.

– and three Ministry of Defence sites in Bath. Already included in the submitted BANE core strategy

If these examples are repeated Cameron will announce not one extra unit that would not have come forward anyway. Not one measure to increase the long term supply of housing.

If this new push for efficient use of public sector land leads to less footdragging over release it is to be welcomed, but dont reannounce land releases made by the previous government it wont wash.