Threefold increase in housing consents for strategic land company
Strong demand for new housing has helped Gallagher Estates to a three-fold increase in the number of plots on which it has secured planning consent.
The Warwickshire company, which was acquired by London & Quadrant in a £525m deal in February, has secured permission for more than 3,227 housing plots in the 12 months to the end of June.
According to its latest land figures, Gallagher Estates won planning consent for 206 developable acres, spread over 10 separate sites.
It also secured interests in 32 new sites across the country via a blend of freehold acquisition, option and promotion agreements, with potential to deliver a further 12,300 plots.
During the same period, it sold 10 consented sites to eight different housebuilders enabling the delivery of 3,257 new homes.
Gregg Wilkinson, Group Managing Director of Gallagher Estates, said: “We are very pleased with both the number of planning consents we have secured, as well as the number and quality of sites we have acquired.
“There is no doubt that officers inside local planning authorities have grasped the pressing need to bring developments forward with greater speed to try to solve the housing problem but that is only part of the battle.
“Many planning departments are still chronically under-staffed and therefore the discharge of pre-commencement planning conditions is still taking far longer than it should, creating further delays in commencing development on site.”
He said joining forces with L&Q had expanded the scope of both organisations considerably, although Gallagher Estates continued to operate in its traditional markets.
“Gallagher Estates will look to expand its role in helping SMEs deliver more housing through its ability to service their land in smaller parcels, whist continuing to work with and sell land to the larger national PLC housebuilders, unlocking land for development across a wide range of tenures and speeding up the delivery of new homes across the UK,” he added.
