Funding for thousands of new homes on estates across England allocated

More than 100 housing estates across England are set to benefit from a significant investment to kick-start their regeneration and speed up the building of thousands of new homes.

The Government’s £32 million Estate Regeneration Fund will be distributed to local authorities and housing associations across the country with 105 estates set to benefit.

The money will be used to speed up regeneration schemes in their early stages and it will also help address problems that hold up projects and give local authorities access to skills to ensure high quality regeneration.

For example, 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 and in Milton Keynes it will be used to kick start the regeneration of seven estates to provide thousands of new homes.

‘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,’ said Communities Secretary Sajid Javid.

According to Housing and Planning Minister Gavin Barwell estates regeneration must be locally led. ‘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,’ he explained.

He pointed out that reforms in the recently published housing white paper set out the Government’s new plans to build more homes across England and 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, some £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.