Keyland to represent Yorkshire on national public sector land framework

Keyland Developments, the sister company to Yorkshire Water and a subsidiary of the Kelda Group, has won a place on the new public sector land delivery framework Land Solve.

The company is now set to work as a Land Broker with public and charitable sectors across the country to maximise the value of surplus land by securing its development potential.

NPS Group, in conjunction with Barnsley Council, established Land Solve which aims to unlock value from surplus land to address the significant reduction in public sector budgets.

Keyland is one of only three Land Brokers to be appointed and will represent Yorkshire as the only northern partner.

As for the potential scale of land available to the framework, it has been estimated that 40% of developable land and 27% of brownfield land suitable for housing sits within public sector land banks and recent data shows that local authorities in England hold £225bn of assets, including over £60bn in property not being used for schools or housing.

250,000 hectares of land are held by the Central Government estate in England and 13,000 hectares are most suitable for housing and could deliver 60,000 new homes. Further analysis of assets suggests an additional 100,000 homes could be accommodated.

Between 2011 and 2015, savings of around £1.8bn were made by vacating and selling property deemed surplus to requirement and Local Government is expected to sell assets with a value of £11.7bn by the end of this parliament, with the disposal of land being a key part.

During the 2016 budget, the Chancellor announced that local authorities and central government are collaborating on a public sector land ambition working with their partners to release surplus local authority land with a capacity for at least 160,000 new homes, supporting the government’s policy on estates regeneration.

Land Solve is a national framework and includes Land Broker and Land Advisor services delivered through appointed partners which are commercial experts working as an extension of the in-house team.

As a Land Broker, Keyland will work ‘at risk’ being responsible for costs and expenses, with payment due upon sale of the land. This appointment is similar to Keyland’s existing business model of Planning Promotional Agreements (PPA’s,) which involve the team working with independent landowners, corporates or regulated bodies to overcome obstacles to development on strategic sites in order to facilitate regeneration by securing planning consent for future use.

Peter Garrett, managing director of Keyland Developments Ltd, said: “Land Solve is a significantly innovative framework designed by the public sector for the public sector and has the potential to bring back into use a vast amount of land with unrealised potential across the country to support housing and economic growth.

“We are delighted to be representing Yorkshire as the only northern Land Broker and are confident that the synergies between this prestigious role and our existing PPA work will enable us to make a valuable contribution to the dynamic new framework.”

Frances Foster, director, finance, assets and information services, added: “The council is delighted that NPS have worked to secure brokers for this framework who are true experts in the industry.

“Land Solve, which will be fully managed by our partners NPS, is an innovative new project and will be accessible to public bodies and charitable organisations throughout the UK.”

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