Councils to trial brownfield land register

The new brownfield registers will provide housebuilders with up-to-date and publicly available information on all brownfield sites available for housing locally.

The registers will help housebuilders identify suitable sites quickly, speeding up the construction of new homes.

Communities secretary Greg Clark said: “A key part of our ambition to build one million homes is to get work started on brownfield sites across the country – many of which are currently nothing more than blight on a community’s landscape.

“These councils will be at the forefront of these efforts to list land and encourage builders to deliver new homes for aspiring homeowners.

“But this is just the first step and I would urge councils to continue to offer up brownfield sites to deliver the homes their residents want and need.”

Registers will eventually become mandatory for all councils under proposals in the Housing and Planning Bill.

The 15 councils with the most brownfield land taking part in the brownfield register pilot project are:

A further 36 areas made up of 58 councils (some bids are joint) were selected on a competitive basis.