The Mayor, Boris Johnson, has announced the 25 developers chosen to sit on his new land procurement panel, set up to accelerate the delivery of housing in London by making it faster, easier and cheaper for public land owners to bring forward land for development.
As a result of the transfer of assets under the Localism Act 2011 the Greater London Authority (GLA) is currently one of the largest owners of public land in London. The Mayor wants to speed up the release of this, and other publicly held land, to get more homes built for Londoners and support the capital's economy.
The London Development Panel, set up with the support of London Councils, establishes a framework agreement between the developers involved enabling public land owners, including London’s boroughs and government bodies, to award individual contracts without having to go through a full and expensive procurement process each time – saving them time and money.
It also offers the potential for developers to build now and pay later for land on some schemes procured through the panel, making schemes more viable and generating a better return to the public purse in the long term.
This ‘one stop’ route to development is expected to see the Panel procure up to £5 bln (approx. €5.8 bln) of housing led mixed-use development on public land over its four-year term.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "The demand for housing in the capital is reaching unprecedented levels making the potential for development on public land far too important to ignore. The London Development Panel will act as a one-stop shop for public land owners in the capital, making it quicker, easier and cheaper for them to bring their land forward for development, increasing the number of homes being built, creating jobs and boosting the capital’s economy."
Sir Steve Bullock, Executive Member for Housing, London Councils said: "London is in the grip of an acute housing crisis and we need to build new homes urgently. This new London ‘one stop shop’ list of potential developers means that all of the public sector will have access to a select list of carefully vetted developers in order to support the building of new homes on land owned by the public sector. Investing in housing not only helps tackle the current shortage of affordable homes, but also creates jobs and stimulates growth."
Source: gov.uk
