Issues like land contamination, infrastructure
requirements, and complex land ownership can present
real barriers to building homes where they are needed
most.
From today, the government is intervening by providing
2 streams of investment – the Land Assembly Fund and
the Small Sites Fund – for Homes England to deploy
alongside their expertise. This will help release land
to deliver 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.
The £1.3 billion Land Assembly Fund, will be used to
acquire land needing work and get it ready for the
market, making it less risky for developers to invest
in and start building. Outside of London this work will
be carried out by Homes England.
For public land owners or local authorities that are
struggling to get building on land in their area, the
£630 million Small Sites Fund will provide grant
funding to speed up getting the right infrastructure in
place to support home building on stalled small sites
to provide the homes their communities need.
Communities Secretary, Rt Hon MP said:
We need to act on a number of fronts to build the
homes this country needs.
The availability of this investment will help us
intervene in the sort of sites that aren’t yet ready
to build on, or where developers have been put off.
Developers can now get straight on with building
homes, rather than overcoming the barriers to build.
And in the same way we are also supporting councils
that have land for housing, but need additional help
to enable development.
An example of Homes England acquiring land is Burgess
Hill in Sussex, a site that desperately needed
affordable housing, but which sat undeveloped for
years. The national housing agency has stepped in,
bought the land and is also delivering the
infrastructure, so that the roads, schools and doctor’s
surgeries are all in place for over 3,000 new homes
that will now be built there.
Homes England Chairman, Sir Edward Lister said:
Homes England is stepping in where the market isn’t
working, unlocking land and releasing sites to those
developers that are committed to providing homes at
pace.
The £1.9 billion announced by the government today
will mean we can invest in crucial infrastructure and
help local authorities to get more homes built on
public land.
The government will work closely with the Greater
London Authority to help ensure targeted funding
through the Land Assembly Fund and Small Sites Fund can
deliver additional homes in the capital.
