Government identifies sites for new housing as part of forthcoming strategy

The government has now identified plots for 83,500 homes on government鈥搊wned land, according to a report in the Financial Times.

The government has committed itself to getting departments and quangos to identify publicly-owned land that can be used for housing, in order to kick-start development, and said it had identified plots for 50,000 homes at the time of the Tory party conference in October.

The paper quoted 鈥渃oalition insiders鈥� as saying the figure has now risen to 83,500.

Housing minister Grant Shapps said: 鈥淭he government made it clear that we can only solve the housing crisis by building more homes. That is why we鈥檙e determined to bring forward derelict brownfield land that the government holds.

鈥淥ur progress so far has been stunning.鈥�

The report said the figure will form part of the expected 29 November announcement of a housing strategy and infrastructure plan to boost growth in the British economy. Weekend reports said the combined package, to be launched alongside the chancellor鈥檚 autumn statement, will be worth 拢50bn, but with most of the money coming from the private sector.

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