The House of Lords Secondary Legislation
Scrutiny Committee has today criticised the Government for
stating once again that they have a ‘target’ of releasing public
land with capacity to build 160,000 homes between 2015-2020 when
they acknowledge there will be a shortfall of just under 100,000
and the ‘target’ was simply
‘aspirational’.
The criticism comes in a report on the Homes and
Communities Agency (Transfer of Property) Regulations 2020 which
makes provision for land owned by Manchester University NHS
Foundation Trust and Staffordshire County Council to be
transferred to Homes England for housing
development.
The Committee points out that performance against the
‘target’, under the Public Land for Housing Programme 2015-2020,
of releasing land with capacity for 160,000 homes by March 2020
was likely to be in the region of capacity for 65,000 homes – a
shortfall of just under 100,000. The Committee state in its
report that when the Government announce a ‘target’, there is an
expectation that it should be achievable and based on a realistic
assessment of the evidence. It was therefore “deeply troubling”
to be told by the then Housing Minister, MP, during a recent
evidence session that the stated target had been ‘very
ambitious’, set ‘incredibly high’ and
‘aspirational’.
The Committee is also critical of the failure of the
Government to explain fully this broader policy context in the
Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the Regulations. The report
notes that five earlier instruments associated with the transfer
of surplus land for housing had been laid and, in case, the
Committee had commented on the instrument and, in more than one
case, been critical of the content of the accompanying
explanatory material.
The Committee drew the Regulations to the
special attention of the House on the ground that, not for the
first time, the Government had provided insufficient information
to gain a clear understanding about the broader context of the
instrument’s policy objective and intended implementation of the
policy of sale of public land for
housing.
Commenting , Chair
of the Committee, said:
“When the Government state that they have set a
‘target’, they should have an expectation, based on a realistic
assessment of the evidence, that it is achievable. If targets are
nothing more than ‘aspirational’, how can we understand the real
intentions of the Government and how can we call the Government
to account for their performance measured against a so-called
target?
“We were disappointed in this particular case that
the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government laid
these Regulations with an Explanatory Memorandum which failed to
explain clearly that the ‘target’ of capacity for 160,000 homes
under the Public Land for Housing Programme 2015-2020 was simply
“aspirational” and that there was likely to be a significant
shortfall.
“We believe the House will want to consider these
Regulations in the broader context of the Government’s policy of
disposal of surplus public sector land for housing, and so have
drawn them to the special attention of the
House.”
Notes to Editors
-
The full report is available online on
the Committee’s
webpage
