Gleeson Land wants new Somerset homes to be 'force for good'

Gleeson Land, which is part of MJ Gleeson PLC, opened its new regional office with a launch event in Bristol on Thursday evening (October 17).

The company has recently secured planning permission for several major developments across the county, with the delivery of new homes expected to begin within the next few months and further sites being in the pipeline.

Managing director Guy Gusterson spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service ahead of the launch event on Thursday (October 17).

He said: “We’ve had a presence in the west for a long time – for over 30 years. We’ve actually got about 29 sites in the western area as it is, which we’ve been servicing from our Fleet office in Hampshire.

“We’ve now regionalised the business as part of our growth strategy – we want to set up teams which are much more local in proximity to the area.

“Working in planning and land is very much a regional business – you need to be a lot closer to your clients to provide a better service, as well as understanding the geography, the politics and the planning system better.

“Our expertise is very much in the southern part of the country, and we’re one of the largest land promotion businesses in the south of England.”

As a land promoter, Gleeson Land seeks to secure outline planning permission on new sites which come forward through discussions with landowners, including Somerset farmers.

Once a given site secures outline consent (including any phosphate mitigation), the company secures a developer client which can put in more detailed proposals (known as a reserved matters application) and take forward the construction and delivery of the new homes.

While Gleeson Homes is owned by the same parent company as Gleeson Land, the two businesses are kept very separate; Gleeson Homes primarily delivers new homes in the north of England, and Gleeson Land does not pass on secured land to Gleeson Homes.

Mr Gusterson said: “There are some land promotion businesses that do serve their housebuilding interests, and for us that’s just a conflict of interest.

“How do you demonstrate the best value for your clients if you’re selling it internally?”

Around 12,000 homes across Somerset are currently held up by the phosphates crisis, with developers and promoters needing to agree additional mitigation with Somerset Council to prevent any net increase in phosphates on the Somerset Levels and Moors.

Mr Gusterson said that the crisis had not dissuaded his company from bringing forward sites in Somerset, and that they were careful to identify the best sites for any given community.

He explained: “We have historically been in Somerset for many years, and have a number of sites coming through our pipeline in that area.

“We want to retain our presence and continue to expand in that area, and we have to be highly selective when looking for new opportunities – we do a huge amount of due diligence when we’re appraising and analysing new sites.

“We’re using data and new technology to identify what the true need in a given area is – and in any local authority area, you will have areas where there are greater chances of securing planning consent.”

Gleeson Land recently secured outline consent for up to 50 homes on the A371 Portway in Wells, following a successful appeal to the Planning Inspectorate earlier in the year.

Mr Gusterson said: “The strategic land business is, by its very nature, a long-term process – we are looking at where future housing demand is going to be needed, in order to invest in the right areas to secure planning consent.

“We’ve worked with the landowner for a good number of years.

“The Wells site is now out to market – we are actively marketing that site to find a developer who will build that scheme out.”

The promoter recently secured outline consent for two further developments across Somerset – 140 homes on Bowden Road in Templecombe (which received the backing of councillors in November 2023),  and 67 homes near Wadham School in Crewkerne (which was approved by councillors in June 2023).

The Crewkerne site will be “re-marketed” to potential buyers within the next few weeks, while the Templecombe site will be going on the market before Christmas once the legal agreements with the council have been signed off.

Mr Gusterson said: “One of the challenges in Somerset – which are not exclusive to the county – is around the lack of registered social housing providers.

“This affected developers being able to purchase the land – they often can’t without having an affordable housing provider contracted.

“Any promoter is motivated, and financially incentivised, to extract value from the site once they have planning consent as soon as possible. If there is a delay, it’s often down to an inability to secure a development partner, for whatever reason.”

Looking further to the future, Mr Gusterson said he hoped the government’s intended liberalisation of the planning laws would bring stability to the industry and allow much-needed local homes to be delivered rapidly.

He said: “Like a lot of businesses, we’re looking for stability and certainty. The standard methodology for deriving housing numbers is obviously hugely welcome.

“We cannot get anywhere near meeting our national or regional housing target without looking further at greenfield or ‘grey belt’, which I think is welcome – but there needs to be greater clarity over the interpretation of ‘grey belt’, and I think the government will provide that.

“In parallel to the planning changes, which we welcome, we need to took at taxation changes.

“Ninety per cent of our clients are farmers, and uncertainty over changes to capital gains tax, inheritance tax and roll-over of relief for agricultural land – if that is too onerous, landowners and farmers will sit on their land, farm it and wait for another change of government.

“There needs to be a balanced policy roll-out with regard to the economic side as well as the planning reforms.”

Both the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine have raised concerns about the UK’s self-sufficiency with regard to its food supply, and the need to balance new homes with protecting high-quality farmland.

Mr Gusterson said his company was not in the habit of targeting the best and most versatile agricultural land for its clients.

He said: “If a site is grade one agricultural land, then it doesn’t make a huge amount of sense to be pursuing it.

“There will be more resistance from a planning point of view – and rightfully so. The country’s got to strike a balance to ensure we can feed the nation.

“We want to be developing land in the most sustainable locations, that have proximity to existing services (or as close as possible to them).

“Development often gets a bad wrap because the public don’t see the benefits that it provides – and I can understand people’s frustrations. Development should be a force for good.”

For more information on Gleeson Land’s work (including previous sites which have been delivered), visit www.gleesonland.co.uk.