EP will be first to view £500m of Ministry of Defence land

English Partnerships has signed a deal with Ministry of Defence property arm Defence Estates that will enable it to view £500m of potential development sites ahead of any other potential buyers.

After the viewing, the regeneration quango will have a 40-day “window of opportunity” to bid for MoD sites alongside other would-be public sector buyers before the sites are sold on the open market.

Defence Estates is disposing of £500m-worth of MoD assets over the next four years.

The deal also entails EP working with Defence Estates on a project called MoD Estates in London, which will consolidate MoD facilities onto fewer sites, leaving land spare for development. The Royal Air Force base at Northolt in north-west London has already been earmarked for consolidation, potentially freeing up land at Inglis Barracks, Mill Hill, and RAF Uxbridge.

The agreement follows a coup for EP earlier this year when the government revised its decision to sell 114 sites formerly owned by NHS Estates to a consortium led by housebuilder Miller Homes and instead passed the land to EP (HT 8 April, page 7).

EP chief executive David Higgins said: “By working with Defence Estates, we are able to fulfil our role of making best use of surplus government land to meet the aspirations of the Communities Plan.

“The MoD portfolio offers an excellent opportunity to redevelop redundant brownfield land and, in particular, help address housing needs.”

Ian Hay, head of disposals at Defence Estates, said: “The private sector will continue to play a key role in development opportunities arising from the disposal of surplus MoD land whether purchased initially by English Partnerships or sold directly on the open market by Defence Estates.”

n English Partnerships has announced that the former Cambois coalfield site, between Blyth and Ashington in Northumberland, will be added to its national coalfield area regeneration programme. The agency has also secured £32m of funding for two other former coalfields – £19m for Bickershaw South, near Wigan in Greater Manchester, and £13m for Silverdale, near Newcastle-under-Lyme.