Burnham has put growth of devolution and the North at the top of the political agenda. Housing-led regeneration must drive his mission

However, our job is far from done. As the report’s name indicates, housing-led regeneration presents the opportunity to unlock at least 500,000 good-quality homes across the North of England.

This includes reviving struggling high streets with over 100,000 new homes in town and city centres; building 320,000 homes on brownfield land; and renewing or replacing 100,000 social homes in need of regeneration. As such, it’s an economic must.

It will increase the supply of new homes, attract private investment, and boost economic growth in the North. And alongside that, it will create great places to live, improve housing quality and residents’ health and well-being, generate jobs and skills opportunities, and promote sustainability by providing greener, more energy-efficient homes that lower household bills.

“Regeneration in the North faces significant barriers, including lower land values and high remediation costs for brownfield sites, meaning that many schemes are simply unviable without government support”

Despite all of this, as Renew’s chair Lord Best said at the Great North Theatre, successive governments have consistently prioritised new supply over regeneration. Renew received 160 examples of regeneration projects in the North – some fantastic projects that have made a real impact on communities. But it’s never easy.  

These projects have taken true Northern grit and financial wizardry of blending multiple funding pots. This just isn’t sustainable given the scale of the regeneration challenge – and opportunity – in the North. 

Regeneration in the North faces significant barriers, including lower land values and high remediation costs for brownfield sites, meaning that many schemes are simply unviable without government support. In addition, lower rents but similar costs mean that for Northern social housing providers, investment in refurbishing and replacing homes often comes at the expense of building new homes. 

That’s why we’re calling for a package of measures that will unlock regeneration in the North, including a £500m per year, 10-year place-based regeneration fund devolved to mayoral strategic authorities. This should sit alongside extending the term of the National Housing Delivery Fund to 10 years to unlock more sites with higher upfront costs, following the precedent set by the 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme. 

And it’s not just about money: we want to see true leadership around regeneration. That’s why we’ve called for a minister for regeneration to drive cross-government co-ordination. We also believe this would lead to greater investment in skills and capacity.

With regeneration having been on the back burner for many years, it’s essential to invest in the workforce of the future. So, we want to see a National Centre for Regeneration, based in the North, as one way to address this. 

“Integrated settlements, more widespread in the North, will enable mayoral strategic authorities to take more of a place-based approach, which should help drive forward regeneration”

At the Great North Theatre, Lara Joyce, secretary of the Gleadless Valley Residents’ Association, offered a powerful reminder about the human side of regeneration. She said regeneration, when it’s done with the community, gives people hope.

Ms Joyce has worked tirelessly with her community on the Vision for the Valley, the Gleadless Valley’s regeneration strategy. She is resolute that after years of broken promises, this strategy must be delivered to maintain the trust of residents.

We also heard from other speakers including MSV’s youth ambassador Kemoy Walker, about the importance of engaging with residents. We want to see a set of standards and rights for residents involved in regeneration and will be doing further work on this later in the year. 

The Great North Theatre highlighted that the foundations have been laid in the North to do more on regeneration. Partnership working is increasing, particularly through housing partnerships, which now cover most of the North.

The North is leading the way with devolution. Integrated settlements, more widespread in the North, will enable mayoral strategic authorities to take more of a place-based approach, which should help drive forward regeneration.

However, there is still further to go with devolution. Discussion in the Theatre focused on the democratic mandate of mayors, and how more accountability should flow to local communities rather than central government.   

We rounded off the Great North Theatre at Housing with a session on the Northern offer and what we’ll deliver together. The message was that, with recent government investment, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make sure everyone has access to a good-quality home.

With continuing devolution (which looks nailed-on with a Burham-led government) and greater support for housing-led regeneration, we can do even more to tackle the housing crisis, support communities and deliver ‘good growth in every postcode’ across the North.

Tracy Harrison, chief executive, Northern Housing Consortium