£33m landed for brownfield regeneration across region
More than £30 million in government funding has been landed for brownfield regeneration in the West Midlands.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has secured £33m from the Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF), which allocates cash to bring old industrial sites back into use.
Bosses are aiming to regenerate enough land for 7,500 homes, having received £51m from the same fund last year which went towards sites including Culwell Street in Wolverhampton.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said the funding would help to protect the green belt, although it is understood it will not reduce housing targets outlined in the Black Country Plan.
He said the cash was a "huge vote of confidence" in the region and added: "Developing homes and creating new communities on brownfield land has been one of the region’s real success stories of recent years, and we will now be able to keep up our momentum thanks to this latest funding.
"By using government cash to clean-up derelict industrial land we’ve helped create thousands of new homes and jobs, whilst also protecting our precious and irreplaceable greenbelt.”
Councillor Mike Bird, WMCA portfolio holder for housing and land and leader of Walsall Council, added that the cash was "vital to leveraging private sector investment and demonstrating market confidence".
“We continue to exceed our housing starts target for this funding, with more applications and expressions of interest being received each week," he said.
The funding is split into tranches and is released providing delivery targets are met. It has been aimed at site clearance and the remediation of ‘difficult to deliver’ brownfield plots.
Bosses are planning to use cash from the fund for the restoration and conversion of heritage buildings into new homes in town centres, as well as mixed use developments around key transport hubs and major brownfield housing projects.
The WMCA is committed to creating 215,000 new homes in the region by 2031.
