Government releases further £60m for brownfield regeneration

Ministers have released a further £60m for 100 brownfield regeneration projects across England. The second phase of the £180m Brownfield Land Release Fund will unlock sites as part of the government’s long-term plan for housing, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said. Under the plans, more than 6,000 homes will be built on brownfield sites, including industrial sites and former car parks, through money given directly to councils to transform unused land into new neighbourhoods. Housing and planning minister Rachel Maclean said: “We know we need to build more homes, but this cannot come at the expense of concreting over our precious countryside. That is why we are doing all we can to make sure we are making use of wasteland and unused brownfield land, so we can turn these eyesores into beautiful and thriving communities.” The funds will be handed out by One Public Estate, a partnership between the levelling up department, the Office of Government Property and the Local Government Association. East Suffolk gets the most funding, with £4.2m allocated. Medway in Kent gets just under £4m, while Oldham receives £3.1m. Other funding allocations include £1.82m for a 146-home scheme in Benwell and Scotswood in Newcastle, nearly £1m to transform a derelict school in Hull and £1.8m to regenerate a former riverside industrial site in Sunderland. Shaun Davies, chair of the Local Government Association, said: “Councils have continued to embrace opportunities to bring brownfield sites in their ownership forward for housing, and this fund plays a key role in helping councils to provide the types of homes their communities really need.” The allocation follows the first round of the fund, which provided around £40m for almost 2,400 homes. To date, the fund has supported 89 local authorities with more than £100m, for more than 160 projects to release land for almost 8,600 homes. A further round of funding will be announced later this year. Council Funding Adur £268,485 Arun District Council £628,322 Basildon Borough Council £1,860,357 Bath & North East Somerset Council £204,375 Breckland Council £425,000 Brighton & Hove £526,400 Bristol City Council £124,482 Buckinghamshire Council £690,000 Burnley Borough Council £416,312 Bury £1,731,015 Cornwall Council £485,040 Darlington Borough Council £262,450 Derby City Council £570, 686 Devon County Council £386,000 Dover District Council £480,000 East Suffolk District Council £4,203,800 Folkestone & Hythe District Council £2,500,000 Gloucester City Council £477,903 Halton Borough Council £291,000 Isle of Wight Council £426,639 Kingston upon Hull City Council £980,000 Kirklees Council £210,100 Lancaster City Council £1,439,016 Leicester City Council £713,435 London Borough of Barnet £575,000 London Borough of Bromley £720,000 London Borough of Lewisham £545,778 London Borough of Merton £130,000 London Borough of Newham £2,391,974 Maidstone Borough Council £2,109,860 Medway Council £3,968,371 Mid Devon District Council £660,000 Mole Valley District Council £560,000 New Forest District Council £324,303 Newcastle upon Tyne City Council £1,819,123 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council £3,151,226 Oxford City Council £340,213 Plymouth £353,250 Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council £425,951 Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council £431,746 Rushmoor Borough Council £1,725,636 Salford City Council £3,000,000 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council £1,371,193 Sheffield City Council £753, 944 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council £1,050,000 Somerset Council £213,800 Southampton City Council £1,084,000 Stevenage Borough Council £599,705 Sunderland City Council £3,134,543 Swale Borough Council £943,499 Thanet District Council £685,275 Torbay £950,000 Trafford Council £1,930,000 Warwick District Council £1,007,440 Warwickshire County Council £200,000 Waverley Borough Council £115,000 West Northamptonshire £750,000 Wigan Council £1,042,464 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council £2,325,000 Wyre Forest District Council £725,000 To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews Photo © Francisco Andreotti/Unsplash