The Government owns an area of surplus land almost as big as Slough that could be used to build almost 100,000 new homes, analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

Over 3,100 hectares of surplus land are owned by the public sector. Guidelines say that property must be sold within six months if it already holds housing, but can be left for three years if it is empty.

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Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister, Sarah Teather said: "With 1.8m families stranded on the housing waiting list, it is completely unacceptable that the Government is sitting on so much land that has already been designated for housing.

"Ministers need to do a thorough audit of the surplus land in their departments and work out what could be used to benefit homeless families.

"The Government need to get its priorities right. It's important to get a good price for surplus land, but this needs to be balanced against the social value of building new homes."

(CD/GK)