North West to benefit from new £11m deal to develop housing on brownfield sites

Derelict sites across the country, including North West locations, will be transformed into new homes under a flagship government scheme to regenerate brownfield land, boost local communities and support people onto the property ladder.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) today (November 30) announced the allocation of a further £11m from the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF) to support 23 redevelopment schemes across 15 councils.

The projects will see unloved and disused sites transformed into vibrant communities, with tired, derelict buildings demolished and new roads and infrastructure built.

Today’s announcement follows the allocation of £58m last month to 53 local councils across the country.

Today’s additional funding will support more areas to deliver new homes and revitalise much loved towns and cities.

Funding allocated from the BLRF so far will release land for more than 6,800 homes by March 2024, and create more than 21,000 jobs in the housing and construction sectors and wider economy as part of the Government’s mission to level up communities across the UK.

Projects allocated funding today include Barrow-in-Furness and Chorley.

In Barrow-in-Furness, Barrow Borough Council will receive £1.5m to improve roads, infrastructure and utilities for the Marina Village development and key employment sites, close to the town centre. The funding will release land for 315 new homes.

In Chorley £1.1m will help bring forward the proposed re-development of a council-owned site on Bengal Street, demolishing existing buildings and addressing ground contamination to deliver a mixed use scheme incorporating residential, retail and leisure space.

Housing Minister, Christopher Pincher, said: “Our brownfield-first approach is transforming under-used sites into thriving communities where people want to live, work and visit.

“The investment we are announcing today will help people onto the property ladder, create jobs, deliver new infrastructure and provide a boost to local communities as we level up across the country.”

The Government’s approach to redeveloping brownfield land is also being supported by more than £1.8bn announced at the Budget to renew and restore sites to unlock a further 160,000 homes.

This builds on the £475m the government has provided in the past 18 months to deliver more than 31,000 homes on brownfield land.

In addition, £14.2m of funding to 14 estates across England was also announced to support communities and level up local communities across the country.

A number of government-backed flexible homeownership schemes are available to help make buying a home more affordable.

This includes First Homes, which offers homes at a discount of at least 30% of the market price to local first time buyers and keyworkers, with the first people to benefit from the scheme moving in last week.

In October, £58m was allocated to 53 councils in the first tranche of the BLRF, of which up to £25m was made available to self and custom build projects. Further funding for self and custom build projects will be announced shortly.

The BLRF is delivered by the One Public Estate programme, a collaboration between DLUHC, the Local Government Association and the Cabinet Office.