We're on your side, EP chair Ford tells developers

English Partnerships will not frustrate developers by "queering their pitch" when fulfilling the expanded land assembly role outlined by the Barker Report, according to chair Margaret Ford.

Speaking exclusively to Housing Today, Ford revealed that the regeneration quango was, however, in discussions with the ODPM about precisely when EP would intervene in the property market to ensure land was brought forward for housing.

It would definitely intervene, she said, where public land was lying unused, where it already had substantial schemes – such as in Bracknell, Berkshire – and where the market had failed.

Ford said: "A lot of the work that we do now is on sites where nothing has happened for 20 years. So I find it interesting for private developers to tell me we're on their patch when, quite frankly, the private sector has not resolved these issues for the past 20 years.

"It's absolutely clear to me that there are certain major development areas within but also outside the four growth areas where there are housing pressures."

She hinted that there would be an increase in EP's £221m annual budget to deliver its enhanced land assembly role.

But she denied that EP was set to become the government's developer. "That's not EP's role. We are an economic development agency and we intervene where the market fails, in places like the coalfields and so on. We have to be extremely careful that we don't overstep that mark. There's no way we are going to become a developer, it is not appropriate."

A lot of our work is on sites where nothing has happened for 20 years. So I find it interesting for developers to tell me we’re on their patch

Margaret Ford, English Partnerships chair

EP is, however, working on buying 30 ha of brownfield land in London that it can develop in partnership with a housebuilder to build 3000 homes – 2000 of which will be affordable (HT 10 October 2003, page 7).

Ford added that she felt there was more than enough for EP to get its teeth into while staying the right side of the intervention line.

"If you look at the National Land Use Database, 9000 ha of brownfield is readily available but less than a third is market-ready.

"There is a huge job to be done in land assembly, remediation and in pre-investment infrastructure around the rest," she said.

EP has been criticised for its delivery record in recent years. Last year's annual report, in which it revealed that it had missed 13 of its 14 performance targets, gave the detractors more ammunition (HT 8 August 2003, page 9).

One London council source said: "My concern about an expanded role in land assembly for EP is that on past evidence it is just not very good. EP is perceived by councils as talking the talk but not walking the walk."