HCA mothballs £214 million of kick-start schemes ahead of Budget

The HCA has put on hold all 108 kick-start round two approved allocations that have not yet been signed-off pending the emergency Budget on 22 June.

A total of £50 million will definitely be axed from the £214 million of projects on the list as part of the quango’s plans to save £230 million.

But the Communities and Local Government department’s housing budget will be slashed by £610 million in total and the amount cut from kick-start could rise.

Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of the HCA, admitted if the agency absorbed all or a substantial chunk of the £610 million savings it would ‘have a very serious impact’ on kickstart.

‘Clearly if we lost all of it then we would not be able to do any of the kick-start schemes [that are] without legal commitments or any of the new build [that are] without commitments and we would make no further new allocations of affordable housing this year,’ he added.

An Inside Housing investigation has revealed the end of kick-start funding would cut a swathe through vital regeneration schemes, leaving more than 100 plots earmarked for housing empty.

Among the allocations on hold is £3.6 million to St Modwen PLC to fund the building of 115 homes on the site of the former Longbridge car plant, in Birmingham, the first phase of a larger 1,450-home development.

The iconic site of the former Rover car factory, which employed 22,000 people at its peak before closing most of its operation in 2005, has largely been demolished and cleared and is set to be redeveloped for housing and industry.

John Lines, cabinet member for housing at Birmingham Council, described the threat to the new homes as ‘very disappointing’.

Mr Lines said: ‘If the money does not come through the short term future of the scheme does not look good.

‘If the money was not there, why were there announcements, why did the government make promises?’

Liverpool would be one of the biggest losers of a large-scale funding cut with a total of £13.3 million for 327 homes across five sites under threat.

The city could potentially miss out on £7.84 million to fund 151 new homes on two different developments on the site of the former Norris Green estate, which has now largely been demolished.

It also faces threats to £2.23 million to fund 70 homes as part of phase two of the Anfield redevelopment project and £1.34 million for 54 homes in the Hunts Cross area of the city.

Cath Green, executive director for community services at Liverpool Council, said the withdrawal of kickstart would halt the schemes.

She said: ‘We have spent the past eight years getting these sites ready and we believed we had an agreement in place with the government for support over 10 to 15 years.

‘We are still committed, with the residents of Liverpool, to developing these sites but we need the government to keep its side of the promise.’

Peter Hindley, managing director of Keepmoat Homes, which is hoping to receive funding for Anfield Phase Two, said funding cuts would reduce training, jobs and investment in deprived areas.

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