New Homes Accelerator sets sights on London and small sites as it moves into second phase

It has also launched an offshoot – NHA London – to support local authorities, developers and housing associations in the capital with sites facing delivery obstacles, particularly consented or stalled schemes.

A second service called ATLAS LDN will offer independent expert planning support, boosting local capacity and providing independent review where needed.

Both of these will be led by the Greater London Authority (GLA) on behalf of the mayor of London.    

Three stalled housing sites in London are already being supported by the NHA programme to help accelerate the delivery of hundreds of high-quality homes. 

According to the government, in its first phase the NHA has unblocked 125,000 homes and has added nearly 60,000 homes to its pipeline.

This includes developments across seven new sites across the East Midlands, East of England and South East.

Among these are 848 homes with 19% affordable housing at Rectory Farm in Lincolnshire, 6,700 homes across a batch of sites in north-west Bicester and 1,500 homes in south-east Bicester.

It will also target 1,400 homes on the AGT-2 Site in Aylesbury and 1,000 homes at Stewartby Brickworks in Bedfordshire.

At a separate site in Aylesbury, Hampden Fields, the NHA is helping to speed up the delivery of 3,000 homes through close collaboration with Taylor Wimpey, the Environment Agency and Buckinghamshire Council.

Housing secretary Steve Reed said: “The number of families and young people locked out of the dream of homeownership is unacceptable, so we are doing everything we can to make that dream come true.

“We’re stripping away the barriers blocking new homes being built, and our New Homes Accelerator means 125,000 will now go ahead.

"But we’re just getting started. This next phase will see spades in the ground even faster as we build the 1.5 million homes this country needs.”

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I welcome phase two of the government’s New Homes Accelerator programme. Working with government, Homes England and councils, City Hall is helping to unblock sites and accelerate the delivery of thousands of new homes for Londoners.

“This programme will get homes built faster and supports our urgent action to tackle London’s housing crisis as we build a better, fairer London for everyone.”