By Adrian Morrison

A Hamilton-based land sale company has bolstered Gordon Brown's drive to deliver more affordable homes by insisting the developers to whom it sells land build more of them.

Intelligent Land Investments (ILI) has inserted a clause into its sales contracts for a 45-acre site in Cumbernauld, requiring that at least 40% of the 350 homes the site can sustain are affordable. This is well in excess of the 25% quota set by North Lanarkshire Council.

Gordon Brown recently said that 240,000 affordable homes have to be built in the UK by 2020. In Scotland, 10,000 affordable homes need to be built every year until 2012 to meet demand. However, only 4000 have been built annually in recent years.

ILI also wants to ensure new developments are sustainable and eco-friendly. It will exceed council recommendations for CO2 emissions, currently being thrashed out for the area's new local plan.

Managing director Mark Wilson said: "We plan to earmark 10 new sites for development next year, of which six will be eco-friendly and affordable. This will create about 4000 new homes a year."

However, the land company's motives for affordable housing quotas and eco-friendly developments have been called into question, since its profits depend on gaining council permission to change land from agricultural to residential use.

Philip Neaves, planning director at chartered surveyor CBRE, said: "Basically, it is looking for an angle that creates a powerful case to get approval for a proposal that in other circumstances might not get consent."