73 councils join land register pilot scheme

Seventy-three councils have signed up to pilot brownfield land registers designed to accelerate house building. Under measures proposed in the Housing Planning Bill, brownfield registers will eventually become mandatory for all councils. The government also wants “permission in principle” to be granted for housing-led development sites listed on the new brownfield registers as part of legislation proposed in the bill. Each council taking part in the pilot project will receive £10,000 of government funding to help the establishment of brownfield registers. The 15 councils with the most brownfield land taking part in the brownfield register pilot project are: Cherwell, County Durham, Huntingdonshire, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Medway, Newcastle upon Tyne, Peterborough, Selby, Sheffield, South Cambridgeshire, Sunderland, Tonbridge and Malling and Wigan. The 58 others are Bassetlaw East Northamptonshire Northumberland South Ribble Bath and North East Somerset East Riding Nottingham South Tyneside Blackpool Exeter City Oldham Stockport Bolton Gateshead Oxford Stroud Bristol City Gedling Pendle Swindon Broxtowe Hart Preston City Tameside Bury Hyndburn Rochdale Teignbridge Central Bedfordshire Kettering Rossendale Telford & Wrekin Colchester Kingston upon Hull Rotherham Thurrock Corby Mid Devon Runnymede Torbay Cornwall Milton Keynes Rushcliffe Trafford Dover NE Lincolnshire Salford Walsall Dudley North Somerset Sandwell Waverley East Devon Northampton South Gloucestershire Wellingborough West Oxfordshire Wolverhampton Communities secretary Greg Clark said: “A key part of our ambition to build 1m homes is to get work started on brownfield sites across the country, many of which are currently nothing more than blight on a community’s landscape. “These councils will be at the forefront of these efforts to list land and encourage builders to deliver new homes for aspiring homeowners. “But this is just the first step and I would urge councils to continue to offer up brownfield sites to deliver the homes their residents want and need.” To send feedback, e-mail louisa.clarence-smith@estatesgazette.com or tweet @LouisaClarence or @estatesgazette