The Homes and Communities Agency will have a key role to play in Government plans to release enough public land to build up to 100,000 new homes by 2015, the Agency’s chief executive Pat Ritchie said today. Housing Minister Grant Shapps has announced that four central Government departments – Health, Defence, DEFRA and Transport – have developed strategies with input from the HCA, setting out how they intend to use their land to deliver more than 50,000 of these homes; while the Agency’s own Development and Land Disposal Strategy will see delivery of a further 11,000. The HCA will use its enabling role – which has a strong commercial focus – to help Local Authorities and other public bodies to increase the amount of land available for development and speed up its release. The Agency will also work with each Government department, challenging them to release as much land as possible. Read More
