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Surplus Public Land

Volume 635: debated on Monday 22 January 2018

18. What progress his Department has made on enabling the development of surplus public land for housing. (903431)

Some Labour councils, particularly in London, own hundreds of acres of surplus land. May I urge the new Minister to challenge those Labour authorities so that we can turn that land into family homes?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In the 2015 autumn statement, the Chancellor set out our aim to release enough Government land by 2020 for 160,000 extra homes to be built. The Government are providing local authorities with money to help to facilitate that. I met Nick Walkley, the CEO of Homes England, last week to make sure that we get cracking on this top priority.