Thousands of new homes will be delivered on council-owned brownfield sites through up to £80 million to transform neglected land into beautiful and thriving communities.
Councils across England will now be able to bid for a share of the final round of the Brownfield Land Release Fund 2.
The latest round will release land for over 8,000 new homes by March 2028 – creating thousands of construction jobs and transforming underused sites into places where people want to live and work, while protecting cherished green spaces.
This demonstrates the need for new homes. Brownfield sites are ideal for residential development. They are normally well served by infrastructure and do not involve the development of green land.
The £180m Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 was launched in July 2022 and is designed to help to bring neglected urban areas back into use, support regeneration projects and boost local economies.
The previous round of funding has supported projects in areas including Bognor Regis, Rochdale and Somerset, helping to unlock new homes, as well as supported accommodation for homeless people.
The full brownfield fund is due to deliver over 17,600 new homes and 56,000 skilled new jobs over the next four years, helping to level up communities across the country.
There have been two rounds of funding allocations already announced in November 2022 and October 2023 and to date, the fund is supporting 89 local authorities, over 160 projects, and has provided over £100 million to support councils to release land for almost 8,600 homes.
A brownfield-first approach is at the heart of the government’s planning reforms through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, which is now law.
These measures are largely encouraged. It is hoped that this central government desire to provide more housing will lead to a more collaborative approach with proposals submitted from the private sector and which involve similar brownfield sites.