Land auctions could see the light...over a year after being announced

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) says it's working to get the first public sector land auctions up and running over the next year - more than 12 months after being announced by George Osborne in the Budget.

The measure, aimed at boosting the availability of land for development, was set to be piloted across the country, after it was announced in the Budget last March.

Of the measures announced a year ago - for which the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is responsible - there has been rapid movement on housing measures, including the launch of the Government's FirstBuy scheme and the Build Now Pay Later scheme.

The Government says one of the biggest barriers identified to development is the shortage of land with planning permission.

It said auctioning parcels of land with planning permission had the potential to bring forward more land for development, increase competition in development and provide greater certainty for developers.

However, there have been rumours of rifts between the Treasury and DCLG over the measure, something which the Government has denied.

The HCA is supporting the DCLG by pioneering the use of land auctions in two of its own sites, one in Skelmersdale, West Lancashire and the other at Hastings, East Sussex, in order to secure the learning for other interested parties and to support the development of the wider model.

A spokesperson said: "We're working with councils. Each area has a number of sites that will be packaged and auctioned. We are looking to bring them forward as soon as possible over the next year."

The HCA is also supporting the use of land auctions on other pilot sites, such as on Ministry of Defence (MoD) sites in Catterick, in North Yorkshire.