West Midlands Combined Authority has announced a new partnership with Homes England, which will boost housebuilding in the region.
Having signed a Memorandum of Understanding, the West Midlands Strategic Place Partnership outline how both organisations plan on achieving their shared goals of creating communities and places from derelict brownfield land. The collaboration is part of the Deeper Devolution Deal that the combined authority and government signed in 2023, with £400 million being set aside for the two organisations to invest in delivering affordable housing across the West Midlands.
This work will see difficult to deliver, or stalled, brownfield sites being remediated, with the delivery of good quality, affordable, and future-proofed homes coming as a priority.
Homes England and @WestMids_CA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement, formalising the West Midlands Strategic Place Partnership (SPP). This new plan sets out shared ambitions to turbo-charge housebuilding in the region.
— Homes England (@HomesEngland) March 15, 2024
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Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street said:
“Developing homes and creating new communities on brownfield land has been one of the region’s real success stories of recent years.
“This partnership with Homes England will see us work closely together to turbo-charge house buildings, unlocking some of our biggest brownfield sites for new homes that are energy efficient and genuinely affordable.
“Almost 33% of all the new homes built to date with WMCA investments have been affordable and the West Midlands is the only region that remains on track to meet its housebuilding target (of) 215,000 new homes by 2031.
“This partnership with Homes England, backed by the hundreds of millions of pounds we have secured for brownfield regeneration through our Deeper Devolution Deal, will further accelerate that success and see yet more homes constructed, more communities transformed, and the quality of life improved for people right across our region.”
Homes England uses the Strategic Place Partnership model to boost local-led housing growth and regeneration, with the partnership with the West Midlands being the fifth so far. Previous agreements were signed with Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and South Essex.
Peter Denton, Homes England Chief Executive, also commented:
“The Strategic Place Partnership model gives us a framework to support local leaders who have a strong vision for housing and regeneration in their area.
“The West Midlands Combined Authority has a clear aspiration for its people and communities, and through this SPP we will bring the powers, partners, funds and capabilities of the Agency together to help make it a reality, working in partnership to unlock the region’s full potential.”
Image credit: iStock
