10,000 houses on ex-military bases had been by no means constructed

A authorities scheme to make use of vacant army land for brand new houses was quietly shelved two years in the past and not using a single home being constructed.

The plan was meant to ship as much as 10,000 new houses, however got here to an finish after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) withdrew a lot of the chosen websites from the programme.

Earlier this 12 months the MoD recognized additional surplus “brownfield” land that could possibly be used for nearly 35,000 new houses.

However the BBC can reveal that none of that land has but been launched or offered by the federal government both.

Labour put housing entrance and centre of its common election marketing campaign and pledged to ship 1.5 million new houses within the subsequent 5 years.

On Thursday, Housing Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner mentioned housebuilding had been held again by “a failure to ensure the event system is working because it ought to”.

She was talking on the launch of a brand new workforce of planning specialists that will likely be deployed to potential housing websites to work by means of blockages and and native points.

Polly Neate, chief government of housing charity Shelter, advised the BBC: “Authorities-owned land that’s properly positioned and appropriate for housing is tough to return by, so when it’s accessible, it’s vital that it’s used to ship extra social hire houses for households on low incomes.”

The now defunct MoD scheme, which was launched in 2019 and concerned a partnership with Properties England, the federal government’s housing company, recognized an preliminary seven websites for growth.

Properties England was arrange by the final Conservative authorities and has a remit to amass land and assist construct extra reasonably priced homes.

One website at MoD Stafford was launched to Properties England however stays undeveloped.

One other in Ripon, in North Yorkshire, continues to be into account for personal growth and will accommodate 1,300 new homes.

The opposite 5 websites, at Prince William of Gloucester Barracks in Grantham, Lincolnshire; Swynnerton camp, in Stone, Staffordshire; RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire; Chetwynd Barracks in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire and Wethersfield Airfield in Braintree, Essex, had been withdrawn from the programme by the federal government.

Causes for withdrawal included army wants within the wake of the Ukraine invasion and Dwelling Workplace plans to deal with asylum seekers.

It’s understood a few of the land initially recognized was as an alternative stored beneath MoD management and used to coach Ukrainian troopers.

Wethersfield Airfield had been one of many earmarked websites, however was as an alternative taken over by the Dwelling Workplace and commenced accommodating asylum seekers in July last year.

The unique plan had been to construct as many as 4,850 houses throughout the airfield website, which included disused runways and different land, however the MoD determined to retain it.

The Dwelling Workplace then took over former barracks buildings on one a part of the location to make use of as lodging for 800 asylum seekers, which it mentioned was a less expensive various to motels.

Following these choices, the partnership between the MoD and Properties England was quietly led to April 2022.

In March of this 12 months, the MoD carried out an extra evaluation to find out how a lot vacant army land was appropriate for housing.

That evaluation discovered the land nonetheless accessible might accommodate 34,250 housing models, together with the 1,300 in Ripon.

However a BBC Freedom of Data request has established that none of that land has been launched to Properties England.

And it’s understood that none has but been launched or offered to personal builders both, however that the MoD nonetheless hopes to take action sooner or later.

The database used to calculate ranges of surplus land contains forecasts for websites that could possibly be offered within the coming years.

A authorities spokesperson mentioned: “Some websites can take longer to regenerate and can also be used for much-needed infrastructure like new faculties or well being providers.”

The MoD had launched “1,500 hectares for business, residential, non-public and authorities growth since 2019”, the spokesperson added.