Farmland ‘should be sold for housing at discount’

Farmland should be sold to councils for housing at discounted prices so the profits can be used to build more schools, an alliance of think tanks and campaign groups has said.

Local authorities can only compulsorily purchase agricultural land if it already has planning permission granted, making it up to 100 times more expensive. But the coalition of 15 think tanks and campaign groups want the land to be sold at a “fair” market value instead.