[Diggers350] unlawful, un punished landbanks

[Jock Coats]

On 6 Jan 2012, at 08:37, james armstrong wrote:

> 15 .In contrast DCLG says, in correspondence to me -
> 
> “Developers need a stock of land to cope with fluctuations in the housing market”
> 
> We would ask “Does Wilson Bowden need 33.8 years  supply, Persimmon 19 yrs and Wimpey 16years? (figures from the Barker Review)
> 
> How is it that Barratt, Bellway and Berkely need zero landbanks? 

…and later you mention these figures are confirmed in their respective published balance sheets.

However, first, Wilson Bowden is a subsidiary of Barratt.  Second, Barratt, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey all report strategic land banks amounting to between 6.3 and 6.8 times current annual build and not 33, 19 and 16 years' worth.

Whether or not we believe them is another matter.  And whether they do have as many problems bringing sites into use as they claim justifies a 6+ year land bank I don't know.  But just as a single example I know a local Persimmon site which has had permission for nearly 200 units (about 2% of their current overall annual build rate) but has been held up because they (and we as Oxfordshire Community Land Trust whose site is nearby) have had to wait more than five years for Thames Water to upgrade offsite sewage treatment capacity in the area.  In the meantime Persimmon have built their own onsite temporary treatment plant so that they can get started on the site, but cannot build more than about 30 units still as a result.

Overall of course I agree with your argument ( see http://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-liberating-the-land-prosperity-through-rigorous-liberalism-26416.html and http://jockcoats.me/planning_promotes_poverty and others) but if you're going to tout this around lots of people who might "fact-check" it, it might be worth checking these discrepancies with what the companies themselves are saying in the financial reports.

Cheers,

Jock
--
Jock Coats - Chair, Oxfordshire Community Land Trusts
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