Mr. Gove has sparked controversy with construction industry leaders with his interventionist approach. Credit: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA
Michael Gove's department is taking up enough land to build more than 250,000 homes, analysis shows, after housing minister criticized developers for hoarding hundreds of thousands of lots.
Homes England, an agency tasked with supporting the construction of affordable new homes, owns a portfolio with enough room for 279,000 homes, according to an analysis privately conducted by the housing industry and provided by the Telegraph. The agency disputes these figures and says the number of homes that can be built is significantly lower.
This comes after FTSE 100 listed Barratt Developments was named the largest private sector land bank last week, holding a total of 189,000 lots, according to reports. In second place was Bellway with just under 100,000 sites. The study found that the top 10 home builders have 700,000 vacant lots.
The revelations drew sharp criticism from Mr. Gove, who told i newspaper that it was “completely unacceptable for developers to sit on the ground and drive up” . prices.”
Mr. Gove's remarks were called “ridiculous nonsense” by senior housing officials. One insider said: “Mr. Gove made one of his characteristic interventions in which politics prevailed over substance.”
In a Homes England activity review released last Monday, the agency said it has a portfolio. 9,000 hectares of land.
According to the Office for National Statistics, an average of 31 houses per hectare are currently under construction, although this figure is significantly lower than the average of over 40 properties in previous years.
At 31 houses per hectare, this would mean that Homes England has 279,000 building plots that are idle.
0706 housing downturns
New home construction hit a 15-year low, despite the Conservatives' pledge to build 300,000 properties every year before then. last general election. Last December, the government was criticized for relaxing the target.
Meanwhile, planning delays and red tape mean the housing sector now estimates that just 120,000 new homes will be built this year.
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Presenting data on private sector land banks, Mr Gove said: “This is totally unacceptable for developers. sit on the ground and inflate prices. I expect them to play their part in providing affordable housing to residents across the country.
“I give the councils the power to crack down on developers who build too slowly with the Level Up and Regenerate Act. This will create a modern and efficient planning system so that councils can identify developers who cannot build at an acceptable rate.”
Mr Gove has angered many real estate industry executives by taking a more interventionist approach to planning constraints. The bosses are also furious after he made them pay to replace the dangerous cladding after the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Last month, he pledged to reconsider the decision of the Planning Commissioner, who, appointed by the Housing Secretary himself, rejected an application to open a take-out Papa Johns pizzeria on the grounds that it would exacerbate obesity in the area.
G- Mr. Gove makes no apologies for calling for flagship building projects to be revisited, using powers that his predecessors used more sparingly.
In an April interview with the Telegraph, he said: “When it comes to great designs: quality matters . We must build for the long term.
“We have a brilliant architectural profession in our country. When we think about buildings, we must think about their aesthetic quality.
“Because it is important for all of us, not only for those who are in them and who use them, but also for those who are part of this wider built environment.
“So one of the key One of the things I have been clear about is that we must demand high aesthetic standards.”
Home England stated that large tracts of land are not immediately suitable for habitation due to complex issues such as strong pollution or lack of major new infrastructure.
The company added that 3,000 hectares of its portfolio are already being developed, and 1,600 hectares are undeveloped land, such as roadsides and waterways.
More than 55,000 houses are expected to be built on the remaining area, of which 30 000 of them in the next five years.
A spokesman for Homes England said: “We are not in the business of land banking and we completely refute this claim and the figures claimed. We make it possible to build the right houses in the right places, many of which are affordable.
“We only intervene when the market needs us. We solve the most difficult and hopeless situations in order to free up land for housing that local communities need and which would otherwise remain blocked.
“Once the land is ready and the draft plan is received, we will involve builders to build as quickly as possible. The Land Bank assumes that we do nothing, but this is far from the case. We are judged not by the amount of land we own, but by the houses we rent.”
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