SPENDING REVIEW 2015: Former British Property Federation chief executive Liz Peace has been appointed as shadow chair of a new body that will take control of publicly owned buildings and land.
The body was announced at the March Budget as part of plans to charge Whitehall departments occupying publicly owned freeholds market rents for their space.
The Spending Review document, which sets out government spending plans for the next five years, said: “The new model will be operational by March 2017, subject to legislative requirements, and all relevant central government land and property will transfer to the new central body by the end of this parliament. The first assets transferred into the body will include freehold office, warehouse, storage and depot properties (and leaseholds where appropriate).”
Alongside the announcement, the government set out detailed plans for £4.5bn of surplus land and asset sales over the next five years. This includes enough land to build an additional 10,000 homes by 2020 on top of the 150,000 previously committed.
The Greater London Authority is in the process of disposing of enough land for a further 5,000 homes, and The Crown Estate anticipates selling land for 2,500 homes.
In office terms, the government plans to shrink the Department for Work and Pensions’ footprint by 20%, while HMRC will consolidate from 170 buildings to 13 large regional centres.
| Sales of land and property assets agreed as part of Spending Review settlements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Estimated receipts between 2016-17 and 2020-21 | £m | |
| Department of Health | -1,950 | |
| Ministry of Defence | -1,000 | |
| Ministry of Justice | -640 | |
| Department for Communities and Local Government | -410 | |
| Department for Energy and Climate Change | -200 | |
| Department for Business, Innovation and Skills | -120 | |
| Foreign and Commonwealth Office | -75 | |
| Other departments | -140 | |
| TOTAL POLICY DECISIONS | -4,535 | |
| Source: Departmental estimates | ||
| Sales of land for housing agreed as part of spending review settlements | ||
| Estimated housing capacity of land released by 2020 | Number of houses | |
| Ministry of Defence | 55,000 | |
| Department for Transport | 38,000 | |
| Department for Communities and Local Government | 36,000 | |
| Department of Health | 26,000 | |
| Ministry of Justice | 5,000 | |
| Department for Business, Innovation and Skills | 1,000 | |
| TOTAL | 161,000 | |
| Source: Departmental estimates |
