More than 100 housing estates across the country are set to benefit from a significant investment to kick-start their regeneration, the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has announced today (24 March 2017).
From Gateshead to Plymouth, the £32 million Estate Regeneration Fund will be distributed to local authorities and housing associations across England to speed up the building of thousands of new homes.
After successful engagement with local communities, a total of 105 estates will benefit from the funding, to be used to speed up regeneration schemes in their early stages. It will also help address problems that hold up projects and give local authorities access to skills to ensure high-quality regeneration.
In Birmingham, the money will be used to start discussions with local communities and ensure the Meadway regeneration creates a place local residents are proud of. In Milton Keynes it will be used to kick start the regeneration of 6 estates to provide thousands of new homes.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said:
For too long a number of housing estates across the country have been areas characterised by low-quality homes and high social deprivation.
This government is determined to have a housing market that works for everyone. That’s why we’re turbocharging the regeneration of these rundown estates, so they can thrive as communities.
Housing and Planning Minister Gavin Barwell said:
Our housing white paper set out ambitious proposals to help fix the broken housing market and to encourage good design.
Estates regeneration must be locally-led, and this £32 million fund will help breathe new life into estates throughout the country. It will help more ordinary working people have the security of a decent place to live.
Reforms in the recently published housing white paper set out the government’s bold new plans to build more homes across England. This funding will help provide thousands of new homes from the carefully planned redesign of estates.
Announced last year, the Estate Regeneration Strategy offered a blueprint for regenerating estates, providing advice and guidance to help improve and speed up development.
In addition to the £32 million released, £140 million in loan funding is available over the length of this Parliament to encourage investment in regeneration from the private sector to help build places that work for everyone.
Local authorities and housing associations submitted bids for the funding. Bids were assessed by a joint panel of the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Homes and Communities Agency.
The £140 million loan fund was initially announced last year, and is designed to cover costs such as land assembly, leaseholder buy-outs, re-housing costs, demolition, and preparatory construction works.
The Estates Regeneration Advisory Panel, co-chaired by the Housing Minister and Lord Heseltine met 6 times during 2016 to help develop the Estate Regeneration National Strategy.
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