Brownfield sites part of £1.2bn starter homes initiative

SEVERAL sites in Greater Manchester and Lancashire are among the first starter homes to be built on brownfield sites across the country under the Government’s £1.2bn initiative.

The homes in Bury, Trafford, Stockport and South Ribble will be backed with financial support to help more first-time buyers into homes ownership under plans announced by Housing Minister Gavin Barwell.

They will be built exclusively for first-time buyers between 23 and 40 years old at a discount of at least 20% below market value.  

The first wave of 30 local authority partnerships – selected on the basis of their potential for early delivery – will spearhead schemes.
 
These partnerships have been established under the Government’s £1.2bn Starter Homes Land Fund which supports the development of starter homes on sites across England.

The new developments will also support the wider growth and regeneration of local areas, including some town centre sites, and help make sure this is a country that works for everyone.

The first places will begin construction later this year along with sites supported by the Homes and Communities Agency.

Barwell said:“This government is committed to building starter homes to help young first time buyers get on the housing ladder.
 
“This first wave of partnerships shows the strong local interest to build thousands of starter homes on hundreds of brownfield sites in the coming years.  One in three councils has expressed an interest to work with us so far.”

The Starter Homes Land Fund was set up to prepare suitable land for quality starter home developments which can be built on by developers or through Accelerated Construction by 2020.
 
Each local authority partnership will work closely with the Homes and Communities Agency to identify and take forward further land opportunities for the fund.

In addition, the Homes and Communities Agency has also issued a call seeking expressions of interest from local authorities who are interested in using their land to deliver homes at pace through the £1.7bn Accelerated Construction recently announced. This will see up to 15,000 homes started on surplus public sector land this Parliament.

Barwell’s announcement came 24 hours after the first ever Garden Villages, which have the potential to deliver more than 48,000 homes across England, were identified.
 
In an expansion of the existing Garden Towns programme, Barwell said the smaller projects of between 1,500 and 10,000 homes continue the government’s commitment to support locally-led development and make sure this is a country that works for everyone.

The 14 new Garden Villages – from Devon to Derbyshire, Cornwall to Cumbria – will have access to a £6m fund over the next two financial years to support the delivery of these new projects.

The money will be used to unlock the full capacity of sites, providing funding for additional resources and expertise to accelerate development and avoid delays.

Garden villages will be in the following locations:

·        Long Marston in Stratford-on-Avon;

·        Oxfordshire Cotswold in West Oxfordshire;

·        Deenethorpe in East Northants;

·        Culm in Mid Devon;

·        Welborne near Fareham in Hampshire;

·        West Carclaze in Cornwall;

·        Dunton Hills near Brentwood, Essex;

·        Spitalgate Heath in South Kesteven District, Lincolnshire;

·        Hallsmead in Knowsley, Merseyside;

·        Longcross in  Runnymede and Surrey Heath;

·        Bailrigg in Lancaster;

·        Infinity Garden Village in South Derbyshire and Derby City area;

·        St Cuthberts near Carlisle City, Cumbria; and

·        North Cheshire in Cheshire East.  

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close