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Government programme to free up land for homes criticised by NAO
A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) refutes claims that the programme has met its target of 100,000 homes, saying it found 'no supporting documentation or economic evidence behind the target or how it was allocated to departments'.
The NAO criticised government departments for not routinely monitoring what happens to land after disposal, which makes it unclear exactly how many homes have actually been built. They also claim that the government used a loose interpretation of land that could count towards the target, including land cleared before the target was set, as well as land owned by Royal Mail and British Waterways, who have since left the public sector.
A DCLG spokesman said: ‘This was an ambitious programme to release surplus government land to build 100,000 homes to help families achieve their dream of home ownership and we broke our target more than a month early with enough land released to build more than 109,000 new homes.
‘We now want to go further and faster still with land sales for a further 150,000 homes by 2020 whilst protecting taxpayers by cutting the hoarding of vacant public land and disused buildings.
‘We will consider and learn any lessons from the NAO's findings.’
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