Homes England has purchased a 230-acre parcel of land in Sutton Coldfield, to the north of Birmingham, to unlock 2,160 new homes.
The Langley Urban Extension is one of the UK’s largest development opportunities.
Birmingham City Council allowed the wider site to be removed from the greenbelt to provide 6,000 homes in 2017. The scheme sits next to the 175-acre Peddimore employment park (pictured) from the council and partner IM Properties. In 2019, the council incorporated the two sites in the city’s planning framework, earmarking them for development.
Langley UE is being brought forward by the Langley Sutton Coldfield Consortium, which has agreed a vision and outline planning proposals. The consortium comprises a mix of landowners, land promoters and housebuilders, which at one point included Taylor Wimpey, William Davis, Miller Homes, Bovis Homes, Nurton Developments, Rubery Owen Holdings and the Gilmour family.
However, as the group has sought to progress the project, development has been delayed and downsized.
Homes England’s investment will allow consolidated land ownership and early infrastructure work to accelerate the project and provide developable sites for a range of companies from large housebuilders to small and medium enterprises.
The government agency purchased the land in a slew of acquisitions, spending £175m on 17 sites. It has acquired 1,000 acres of land to support the delivery of 7,400 new homes.
Further acquisitions include a 130-acre site at Attleborough, Norfolk, for 1,200 new homes, the 81-acre Hurst Farm in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, for a 350-home scheme and 300 acres across various parcels in Ifield, including Ifield Court, as part of the £3bn Crawley garden village plan.
Peter Freeman, chair of Homes England, said: “By bringing these sites into our ownership we will use our resources to unblock them, get them shovel-ready and back on the market so that housebuilders and housing associations can build them out to the design quality standards we set.
“Providing this steady pipeline of sites is one of many ways in which we are providing certainty to the industry, particularly the smaller end of the sector.”
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