Land Hub portal will allow small firms to bid for development land to build houses on

RAF Henlow

Homes England has launched an interactive web tool to connect developers with 2,500 acres of land that has been made available for new housing schemes.

Developed by the government agency, the new Land Hub portal will provide access for small and medium-sized building firms who will be able to bid for parcels of land, said communities secretary James Brokenshire.

The portal will be offering 148 sites in the next 18 months, Brokenshire said. Data will include planning status, site size and proposed use.

Sir Edward Lister, Homes England’s chairman, said the initiative demonstrated the scale of his organisation’s ambition “to unlock land and accelerate the delivery of the homes the country needs”.

Last month Homes England announced a partnership with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation to develop land being released by the Ministry of Defence.

The move could result in more than 10,000 new homes being built on a number of brownfield land owned by the MoD.

An initial seven sites covered by the partnership are: RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire (pictured); Claro & Deverell Barracks in Ripon, North Yorkshire; MOD Site 4 in Stafford; the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency Wethersfield site in Braintree, Essex; Swynnerton Training Camp in Stone, Staffordshire; Prince William of Gloucester Barracks in Grantham, Lincolnshire and Chetwynd Barracks in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire.