HCA spends £5.6billion to beat targets

The agency has revealed initial details of its performance which show its total investment for the year was £5.6 billion.

There was a further £900m expenditure under the arm’s-length management organisation budget and £100m of prudential borrowing by local councils to support the Local Authority New Build Programme.

The agency’s Property and Regeneration Programme saw 356 hectares of brownfield land reclaimed against a target of 340 hectares.

The Property and Regeneration Programme also attracted £583million of private sector investment.

But it said details of housing starts and completions cannot be reported until June due to their status as official statistics – although in a statement it said it anticipated an ‘exceptional performance’.

Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of the HCA, said: ‘Throughout the year we have invested heavily in communities.  We have achieved our ambitions and helped local authorities to achieve theirs.

‘I am particularly pleased that we are on track to directly fund around half of all new homes predicted to be built in England this year and next, and that as well as our core business we have been able to deliver the Housing Stimulus Package quickly. 

‘From a standing start in June we have allocated over £535m, and workers are now back on site at 181 stalled schemes and local authorities can embark on the biggest programme of new council house building for 20 years..

Tough operating conditions these results showed hard evidence of success, he added. ‘We are a national agency that acts locally, so major credit has to go to our regional delivery teams and to our partners, without whom we can achieve nothing on the ground.’