Council fights rural 'landbanks'

Guildford is one of the areas earmarked for additional housing

A Surrey council under pressure from the government to find more land for housing is fighting a spate of "landbanking" schemes.

Landbanking involves rural land being offered for sale at inflated prices with the implicit suggestion it could get planning permission for housing.

But Carol Humphrey, head of planning at Guilford Borough Council, said this was "highly unlikely".

The council said it has placed restrictions on some plots of land.

Ms Humphrey said: "We advise potential investors to look carefully at land before purchasing.

"We place high importance on protecting the openness of the green belt in the borough.

"Many of these rural plots give the impression of having housing potential when, in fact, this is highly unlikely to be granted."

Dividing land

However, the government has said that some green belt land to the north-east of Guildford is likely to be needed to meet proposed housing targets of 422 new homes a year until 2026.

The council said a spate of landbanking schemes had been reported to planning enforcement officers.

It has served a number of notices which remove normally-permitted development rights, such as erecting fencing to divide the land into smaller plots.

The notices remain in place for a temporary period of six months, until confirmed by the secretary of state, at which point they become a permanent condition.

Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mulholland, is campaigning for new laws to stop landbanking schemes, which he has said are "obviously a scam".