DCLG is proposing to reduce publication of its statistics on land use change covering brownfield housing, green belt loss, housing density etc. from quarterly to annual but it hopes to stall criticism of "garden grabbing" by distinguishing between development on buildings' footprints and surrounding gardens.
A consultation paper sets out plans for changes to both the land use change statistics and those on commercial and industrial floorspace and town centres and retail development.
It intends to privatize collection of the commercial and industrial floorspace and retail development statistics and make them biennial instead of annual.
"The options for consultation reflect consideration of demands to improve the coverage of the statistics and the need to produce them in as cost effective way as possible," says the paper.
On the land use change statistics, the Department says they are derived from Ordnance Survey data and changes involving physical development are recorded quicker than rural uses like forestry or agriculture.
This has allowed the provisional figures for the proportion of new homes built on brownfield sites and the area of land changing to residential more frequently than annual. No reason is advanced for the proposed reduction, however.
"We propose that one annual publication would provide the key statistics such as the percentage of new housing built on previously developed land plus provisional estimates for all the various other measures," says the paper.
"We will consider the most appropriate timing for the publication so that the estimates are sufficiently timely and robust."
But it proposes to introduce an additional category of "residential gardens" to distinguish between development on the "footprint" of dwellings and the surrounding gardens. But it offers no explanation of how such a complex operation could be achieved.
"This meets a policy need in providing evidence on the issue of the extent of development on gardens," it says.
Comments are required by 14 April.
