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Chancellor confirms £1.8bn fund to unlock 1,500 hectares of brownfield land
As part of today’s Budget statement, the chancellor has confirmed the government will invest almost £2bn in bringing brownfield land back into use for housing and related infrastructure.
Speaking today in parliament, Rishi Sunak confirmed the announcement of the fund, which was trailed over the weekend.
He said: “We’re investing an extra £1.8bn, enough to bring 1,500 hectares of brownfield land into use.”
Budget documents confirmed the total includes £300m in locally led grant funding, which will be distributed to combined authorities and councils “to unlock smaller brownfield sites for housing and improve communities in line with their priorities”.
The remaining £1.5bn is earmarked for regenerating under-used land and delivering transport links and community facilities, with the government claiming that the whole pot can unlock 160,000 new homes.
Earlier this week, the Treasury told Inside Housing that further details would be issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in due course.
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Developing on brownfield land has been a focus of the government, which allocated £58m to councils this month to support the delivery of housing on previously used sites. Last year it announced a £400m fund that was mostly allocated to six city regions in the North of England.
Mr Sunak added today that the government would be “investing more in housing and homeownership, with a multiyear housing settlement totalling nearly £24bn”.
It was not immediately apparent how the total was arrived at, with a number of sector figures questioning the figure and how much of it represented new spending.
Aside from the £1.8bn brownfield funding, Mr Sunak announced a new £65m investment, also trailed this week, to improve the planning regime via digital transformation.
The £24bn also includes £11.5bn for the Affordable Homes Programme, which was agreed last year and aspires to deliver 180,000 new affordable homes in the next five years. Strategic partners were announced in August 2021.
Inside Housing has asked the Treasury for a full breakdown of the £24bn multiyear settlement.
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