The FSA has secured interim injunctions and freezing orders from the High Court against amongst others St Clair Estates Limited, OFG Investments Limited, Option Land UK Limited, and GIG Properties Limited.

The effect of the orders is to prevent any of the above companies from selling plots on a particular site of land pending further investigation by the FSA and the conclusion of ongoing civil proceedings.

The FSA said it took this action because it suspects that these companies were running a land banking operation which amounted to an unauthorised collective investment scheme.

The firms are believed to have marketed plots of land on a site at Winkleigh Airfield in Devon. The FSA has frozen approximately £850,000 which is believed to derive from customer investments.

The FSA does not regulate the sale of land but land banking often amounts to collective investment, something that requires FSA authorisation. None of the above companies is authorised by the FSA.

Jonathan Phelan, head of unauthorised business at the FSA, said: “This is a further example of the FSA taking action to protect consumers from unauthorised land banking firms and the individuals behind them.