Some of the UK’s biggest strategic land buyers are creating their own federation to represent their interests nationally and to government.
The Land Promoters Federation is being set up by companies including Richborough Estates, IM Land, Gallagher Estates and Catesby.
Although no formal structure has been agreed, Catesby chief executive Paul Brocklehurst is expected to take on a leading role.
The federation will help the companies lobby government and influence policy. Currently land buyers fall into the gap between those represented by the British Property Federation, the House Builders Federation, the Royal Town Planning Institute and the RICS.
Gregg Wilkinson, group managing director of Gallagher Estates, said: “Discussions are taking place about the establishment of an association but those talks are only in their early stages and nothing is likely to be finalised until the new year.”
The new organisation will address issues such as local plan allocations. Authorities have been rejecting schemes on the grounds that they are not on allocated sites in their local plans despite the proposed sites having all land assembled and a ready developer. It is hoped that an open dialogue between players will help.
A large amount of new housing and planning policy directly affects land buyers, while the public’s perception of the sector often associates it with landbanking.
Landbanking claims – while on occasion justified – are also often misunderstood, with investors forced to wait for long periods to bring forward schemes owing to the way the planning system works.
Claims can also fail to take into account the impracticality of building out thousands of homes on a site all at once both in terms of resourcing and pricing. To allow for possible delays and conditions imposed in planning, developers need multiple sites that can progress at different points.
Jason Longhurst, director for regeneration and business at Central Bedfordshire Council, said he was interested in seeing the new entity provide confidence or a form of guarantee to councils about building rates.
“It’s market confidence, or delivery confidence, that’s our biggest issue,” he said. “We do not need another intermediary between local authorities and government on planning. What is needed is giving the confidence to the market… how do we get away from the peaks and troughs of the build sector?”
Before the financial downturn, many major housebuilders had a far more active role in strategic acquisitions, but since then they have become more risk-averse. Instead, they often prefer to buy serviced plots of 100-150 homes from larger sites.
As a result, much of the initial risk and reward is taken by strategic land buyers, which has become big business: Urban & Civic owns Catesby, IM Land is a division of IM Properties, and Gallagher was bought by L&Q.
One of the objectives of the new agency will be to present a united voice to government on what would genuinely help bring forward land for housing faster.
“It has got to be a positive thing,” said Mark Birks, regional senior director at GVA. “What often happens is the land promotion game cuts a fine line between the planning and commercial property worlds. I would suggest what they are proposing would be a link between the two.
“I would want them to create a stronger bond between the delivery side of the planning system and planning politics. That covers a wide berth of subjects: viability, CIL, a green belt definition… improving the transition from permission granted to the deliverability of these schemes.”
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