English Partnerships chief exec David Higgins has told Housebuilder that last month's incident in which it bought a valuable RAF site in Bracknell from under the noses of volume housebuilders who had tendered was a one-off case. “This should not happen in the future. It was during a crossover period. "We were drawing up the register of surplus public sector land, and the 40-day notice period was introduced,” said Higgins, referring to the time window now given to other public sector agencies to identify new uses for land destined for the register, and buy it before the general market gets a look-in. “We will bring this site to market, and I would say to private sector housebuilders, ‘We are looking forward to delivering Bracknell with you’."