Mayor in call for £500 million housing boost
Andy Street has called on the Government to unleash a £500 million funding boost for new housing across the West Midlands.
The region's Tory Mayor says he urgently requires the 'financial muscle' to bring old industrial sites back into use as part of ambitious plans that will focus on land in the Black Country.
He is among a quintet of Metro Mayors to urge Theresa May to review into the way the Government allocates new housing funding to regions outside London.
They have written to the Prime Minister in a bid to spark housing growth that they say will rebalance the UK economy.
Mr Street, who was due to chair a meeting of England's mayors in the West Midlands today, said attracting developers to build homes on brownfield sites was 'tricky' due to market conditions.
He added: "So where the market fails, Government must step in.
"Indeed the Conservative Party manifesto committed to, 'not just concentrating housing development in the south-east, but rebalancing housing growth across the country'."
He added that as the price of land in the West Midlands 'no match' for the commuter belt around London, developments found it difficult to be considered value for money.
Mr Street said of the country's mayors: "We all have brownfield sites which have been derelict for years, and we need the financial muscle of Government to get them moving.
"We stand ready to get the diggers fired up, and build the homes we desperately need."
The intervention comes at a crucial time for the city regions, which are negotiating housing deals with the Government where they commit to building more homes in return for infrastructure and housing funding.
Mr Street said metro mayors were in a unique position to accelerate the building of homes and address the country's chronic housing shortage.
“But that requires Government to provide the investment and powers so that we can deliver the new homes our regions and the country need," he said.
“This needs to be a two-way relationship and needs to focus on brownfield and infrastructure provision, based on co-investment rather than continuous bidding rounds which currently hinders our regional momentum.”
