Homes England has agreed grant funding deals with 12 local authorities to deliver 4,000 homes across England. The funding totalling £55m has been awarded through the Government’s £450m Local Authority Accelerated Construction (LAAC) Programme.
The grant funding will support local authorities with a range of work required to prepare their sites for the development of new homes such as infrastructure enabling works, planning and technical expertise and site remediation.
The LAAC programme prioritises the use of modern methods of construction, which will increase the pace of delivery across the developments by an average of 40%.
The funding will be used to kick start the development of 4,000 new homes across England, including 1,400 at a 400 acre site at Horton Heath, Eastleigh. Eastleigh Borough Council purchased the site in 2018 and the development will benefit from £20.8m of LAAC funding to accelerate the delivery of a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom homes, including a minimum of 30% affordable housing.
The announcement includes deals with local authorities from across England:
- North: City of York Council, Gateshead Council, Newcastle City Council, Pendle Borough Council
- South: Eastleigh Borough Council, Medway Council, Dorset Council
- Midlands: Leicestershire County Council, High Peak Borough Council, City of Lincoln Council
- East: Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, South Norfolk Council
Stephen Kinsella, Executive Director for Land at Homes England, said: “This funding will enable local authorities to accelerate housing delivery by enabling them to prepare sites for development and bring forward the construction of new homes incorporating modern methods of construction.”
Minister of State for Housing, Kit Malthouse MP, commented: “We haven’t built enough homes in this country for far too long — and our accelerated construction programme is here to change that, and fast.
“This £55m funding boost will help councils get 4,000 new homes built across the country using the latest modern methods that cut down on construction time.
“We must keep building more, better, faster to meet our ambition to building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s.”
Lead image above ©Ink Stop/AdobeStock.
