Matt Hancock, minister for the Cabinet Office, has demanded “more bang for our bricks” as he announced new efficiency measures to further streamline the government estate.
Through the Housing and Planning Bill, new measures will force local authorities to publish lists of their surplus assets in a bid to increase transparency and help the council identify empty buildings and brownfield sites which can be freed up for homes.
Local authorities will have to publish information on surplus assets that they have retained for longer than two years, or six months in the case of housing, and give a reason for doing so.
“None of us can afford to hide empty rooms behind closed doors,” Hancock said at the Government Property Conference 2016.
Through the Right to Contest, members of the public or private sector can alert government of sites they think should be sold. Cases will only be rejected if departments can demonstrate that the site is vital for operational purposes or alternative considerations outweigh the potential for better economic use.
Hancock said: “We want more bang for our bricks and to do this we are going to make some changes to the way that we manage property.”
Since 2010, the government has exited 25.8m sq ft of property – an area larger than Monaco.
Over the next parliament, the government aims to raise £5bn from land and property, and release land for 160,000 homes.
Local authorities have a separate target to raise a total of £9bn from land sales.
The government has three main strategies for achieving its target: the One Public Estate; the government hubs programme; and the New Property Organisation.
The One Public Estate, a joint initiative between the Government Property Unit and Local Government Association, channels funding and expert support through councils to deliver ambitious property projects.
So far it has been a pilot, but the government wants to roll it out to all local authorities by the end of this parliament.
The government hubs programme aims to shed 75% of government offices by 2023, reducing its offices from 800 to fewer than 200 by 2023.
The New Property Organisation, which is shadow-chaired by former British Property Federation chief executive Liz Peace, will be a central body holding a large amount of government property which it will lease to departments.
Peace is currently recruiting an executive team for the organisation, which is due to be set up by 1 April 2017.
Hancock said he wanted to see more collaboration, cost-effectiveness and “commercial mind-set” from the public sector in managing its estate.
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