§ Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bayasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether English Partnerships, in line with the Barker Review of Housing Supply (paragraph 10.26), considered maximising the use of the former staff college site at Bracknell for policy objectives such as housing supply, under section 24 of Government Accounting; and, if so, why the offer to the wider market was allowed to go ahead and a bid from English Partnerships then accepted after the offer period had ended. [HL1187]
§ The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker)English Partnerships (EP) wishes to see the former staff college site in Bracknell developed as a high quality urban extension to the town in line with government policies set out inSustainable communities: building for the future (February 2003). Negotiations between EP and Defence Estates (DE), the owners of the site, are continuing. The marketing of the site by DE pre-dated the introduction at the end of October 2003 of revised guidance on the disposal of surplus public sector land. The guidance has been issued to departments and sponsored bodies and will be formally included in Chapter 24 of Government Accounting soon. Now that the new procedures for handling surplus public sector land are in place, in future public sector bodies will have the opportunity to seek to acquire surplus land before it is offered to the open market.