Labour Growth Test as Housebuilding Stalls on Top Gear Test Track – Guido Fawkes

Labour Growth Test as Housebuilding Stalls on Top Gear Test Track

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The former Top Gear test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome saw many a celebrity compete to be a ‘star in a reasonably priced car.’ It is also one of the largest brownfield sites in the country, and the now unused land has been earmarked for development for nearly ten years. Locals should be able to enjoy a reasonably priced house, but it’s England – so of course, none have been built…

The site has had planning permission for 1800 homes since 2018 – but not a single property has been constructed. The land is owned by super-wealthy Trinity College, Cambridge, which boasts an endowment of more than £2 billion. Last week The Times reported that Angela Rayner could intervene with a completion notice or compulsory purchase order. Another key test for Labour’s pro-growth rhetoric…

So who is behind the go slow? Trinity College appointed former Tory minister Ben Gummer’s development consultancy GummerLeathes to advise on the project as planners, no doubt for a healthy fee. Another firm involved is Bidwells, the longstanding land agent for Trinity (it’s a small world – Bidwell’s founder’s son went to school with Gummer). Neither firm has a reputation for housebuilding – indeed it appears Gummer’s firm has not built a single house, and Bidwells admits its “role (was) rarely undertaken outside the housebuilding industry“. But perhaps that’s exactly what Trinity was looking for, given it has now sat on the planning permission for nearly seven years – which is now at risk of expiring. Anyone seen Looking For Growth…