Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Government announces intention to step up sale of public buildings for redevelopment

05 Feb 2015, 5:21 pm

Cabinet Office minister Sir Francis Maude has announced that the UK government intends to press on with its policy of selling off public land and buildings for redevelopment, in order to reduce running costs and raise funds.

In a conference speech in London yesterday, Maude said the consolidation of government buildings had already generated £1.4bn in capital receipts and reduced annual running costs by £625 million since 2010. The minister said reducing the size of the government estate remained "an important part of [the government's] long-term economic plan" and encouraged members of the public and developers to make use of an online tool introduced last year to challenge the government to release underused land and property.

Maude said the government intended to reduce the number of properties it held in central London from 71 to 23 in the next five years, having already disposed of 72 sites in the capital since 2010. He said almost all of the Dulwich Hospital site would be released for sale after a local councillor challenged its use under the government's Right to Contest. He also said consideration was being given to the relocation of museum collections from the five acre Blythe House site in Kensington.

Outside London, the minister said the government planned to bring the former civil service training market at Sunningdale Park in Berkshire to market and would consider the costs and benefits of releasing "disused airfields and army barracks, surplus prisons and long-abandoned government laboratories".

Maude said the pilot One Public Estate programme, through which public bodies and government departments in 12 local authority areas were asked to share premises and release surplus land, would be extended in the next Parliament to all local authorities who wished to take part. He estimated that land released through the government's disposals programme and the One Public Estate programme, had released enough land to build 100,000 homes.

"We can be proud of the changes we've made to property management," said Maude. "We've literally changed the face of Whitehall, reshaping the government estate to be more cost-effective for the future, saving millions for the taxpayer."

"We're creating flexible, modern workplaces that help public servants do their jobs in the best way possible," the minister said. "And in doing so, we've set off a wave of redevelopment, giving rise to new offices and new homes, and to more jobs and stronger growth."