Liverpool City Region set to smash target for homes built on brownfield sites

Mayor Steve Rotheram has announced that the Liverpool City Region will smash its target for homes built on brownfield sites, with 4,521 to be built through the Combined Authority's £59.5m Brownfield Land Fund.

Established to support the creation of new homes on previously developed brownfield sites, the £59.5m in Government funding came with a target for enabling the construction of 3,970 new homes.

It means the Combined Authority is set to build a total of almost 8,000 new homes on previously-developed, brownfield sites, having secured £147m in Government funding.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:

“New homes give families the opportunity to realise their ambitions to live in a high-quality home; attract new funding into our towns and cities and help us retain talent to drive our economy.  They are an investment in all our futures.

“That's why I'm so proud that we have over-delivered on the Brownfield Land Fund.  We're creating more than 4,500 new homes on derelict land across the Liverpool City Region – building new communities and helping thousands of families across the Liverpool City Region to invest in good quality, genuinely affordable, and accessible houses.

“By specifically targeting brownfield sites, we are helping to turn once-neglected areas back into thriving communities – and helping to protect more of our green spaces.”

Councillor Graham Morgan, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Portfolio Holder for Housing and Spatial Framework, said:

“It's a tribute to the hard work of everyone involved and brilliant collaboration between partners across the city region that we've been able to overdeliver on new homes through the Brownfield Land Fund.  This is what the Combined Authority is all about – bringing the whole city region together to improve things for our residents. 

“Through this scheme we've helped bring life back to often derelict areas, removing blight, creating communities and good quality homes for people to live in.”

The 4,521 new homes are being built on 37 sites across the Liverpool City Region.

Including the £59.5m Brownfield Land Fund, the Combined Authority received a total of £147m from central Government, including £82m from the Brownfield Land and Infrastructure Fund, to develop Liverpool Waters and Hind Street, Birkenhead, as well as £5.2m through the Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 (BLRF2), to develop six schemes on Local Authority-owned land across the Liverpool City Region. 

With  around 3,000 homes set to be built through the Brownfield Land and Infrastructure Fund and 427 through BLRF2, almost 8,000 new homes will be built on brownfield sites across the city region.

At its April meeting the Combined Authority will be asked to allocate the very last of the £59.5m funding to Cobalt Housing for its existing Stonedale project.  If approved, an additional £300,000 will be allocated to enable Cobalt Housing Association to start work on the Stonedale development, a wholescale estate regeneration project in Croxteth, off the East Lancashire Road. 

The ambitious scheme will transform the local area but Cobalt has faced increased costs related to mediating the derelict land, including demolitions and ground works.