The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, alongside the Cabinet Office, has announced that that thousands of new jobs and homes are to be delivered across England using disused and unloved brownfield sites.
With an announcement today, the Levelling Up Department confirmed that councils across the country are able to bid for a share of £60 million worth of funding. This funding will come from the Brownfield Land Release Fund 2, a fund that aims to boost local economies by supporting regeneration projects and giving neglected urban areas a new lease of life.
By March 2027, it is expected that the fund will have delivered 5,800 new homes, as well as creating 18,000 new jobs in the housing and construction sector. Alongside the aims of boosting local economies and regenerating unused land, this will also help thousands of first-time buyers into homeowners.
Rt Hon Lucy Frazer, Minister for Housing, said;
“We want to turn neglected areas into thriving new communities, as part of our mission to level up the country.
“To do this we must prioritise brownfield land to deliver new homes for people, in the right places.
“The £60 million fund we are opening today provides another fantastic opportunity for councils to drive regeneration in their towns and cities – and help more young families onto the housing ladder.”
The Brownfield Land Release Fund consists of £180 million, with £35 million of it already being allocated to areas around England. The remaining funding will be made available to councils over the course of the next four years. Over the course of that four years, the total number of new homes and jobs delivered are expected to be around 17,6000 and 56,000 respectively.
Alex Burghart, Cabinet Office Minister, added:
“This funding is absolutely vital for stimulating growth and helping local areas reach their full potential.
“Neglected land such as this is ready for investment and this funding will pave the way for more than 5,800 young people and families to take their first step onto the property ladder. This is great news for businesses and even better news for local people, who are seeing housing as well as jobs moving to their area for decades to come.”
The application window for this round of the funding will close on the 31st March 2023, with the government announcing the successful projects over the summer.
