Pioneering councils are to help lead the way in bringing forward derelict and underused land for new homes, Communities Secretary Greg Clark announced.
73 councils across England will pilot one of the new brownfield registers, which will provide house builders with up-to-date and publicly available information on all brownfield sites available for housing locally.
The registers will help housebuilders identify suitable sites quickly, speeding up the construction of new homes.
They will also allow communities to draw attention to local sites for listing, including in some cases derelict buildings and eyesores that are primed for redevelopment and that could attract investment to the area.
The government has pledged 1 million more homes and to get planning permission in place on 90% of suitable brownfield sites for housing. Today’s move ramps up the brownfield land building commitment.
Communities Secretary Greg Clark said:
“A key part of our ambition to build 1 million 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.”
