138 homes completed following funding programme
A further 138 new homes have been completed on regenerated brownfield sites in the West Midlands thanks to funding from the Unlocking Stalled Housing Sites Programme, taking homes approved for construction through the scheme to over 700.
The Unlocking Stalled Housing Sites Programme, funded by the government’s Local Growth Fund, was launched in 2016 by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP).
It is designed to remove barriers to development and bring forward the construction of new homes across the region.
Available to residential developers within the GBSLEP area, two developers in Staffordshire to have benefited from funding are Orbit Homes, creating 99 units at Saxon Gate, Lichfield, and Cannock Chase District Council, delivering 39 units on disused sites across Cannock.
Chris Loughran, deputy chairman of GBSLEP, said: “The Unlocking Stalled Housing Sites Programme has been specifically designed to identify development opportunities such as these in Lichfield and Cannock, and it’s fantastic to see the thriving new communities which have been created with the support of this funding.
“Developing brownfield sites such as these are key to the region’s strategy to meet demand for housing for people at all stages of the property ladder. Offering a helping hand to contractors and developers to help move these sites forward and transform them into assets for the area is a crucial marker for success for our strategy.”
The £9m fund, managed by Finance Birmingham, is targeted at schemes with the potential to provide between 10 and 100 mixed tenure homes, and has been designed to provide support to the development of brownfield sites that would otherwise be difficult to develop.
Andy Green, investment director at Finance Birmingham, said: “The Unlocking Stalled Housing Sites Programme has excelled beyond our initial targets and we are pleased to see the fund approve nearly all £9 million, supporting the development of over 700 units and bringing much needed housing to the area. There is, however, still work to be done to deploy the remaining fund and continue to help developers throughout all regions of the GBSLEP area. From tackling land remediation issues to supporting with wider viability of sites, through our collaboration with the GBSLEP, we are committed to resolve issues that arise by providing financial support for stalled housing schemes”.
There is a final call for applications for funding from the Unlocking Stalled Housing Sites Programme to be completed by December 2020.
