<b></b>New figures showing that there is more brownfield land available for development have prompted the government to challenge housebuilders to exceed the 60% target. But the industry claims the obligation still lies with the government to boost brownfield development.<br> &amp;“The quantity of brownfield available has never been in question,&amp;” said HBF&amp;’s Pierre Williams. &amp;“What matters is whether this brownfield is in areas of housing need and whether it is financially viable to develop. If the government wants to increase this target, it knows exactly what to do - put public investment into effective transport and other essential infrastructure and stop driving developers away from taking on these projects through over-onerous planning gain demands.&amp;” The new statistics come from the National Land Use Database which show that there are 66,000 hectares of brownfield land available.<br> <p></p><p></p>