New housing deal to speed up the development of affordable housing

Homes England has agreed a funding deal worth £38.2m for six local authorities to speed up the construction of over 2,000 homes across the country. 

This deal is the latest to be awarded through the Government’s £350m Local Authority Accelerated Construction (LAAC) program, which was launched to increase the speed of delivery on local authority housing schemes.

This deal will work with authorities in Somerset. Bournemouth, Christchurch, Bristol. Hastings, Hull, and Chester.

The funding will then be used by the local authorities to invest in infrastructure and enable work to get started on 13 sites across England, ensuring that the sites are ready for the development of new homes.

The local authorities who have been awarded the funding are being encouraged by the government to use both local and modern methods of construction, from factory-fabricated components to 3D modular construction.

According to the government, this is to reflect the government’s commitment to investing in infrastructure and also to encourage the widening use of smaller builders on publically owned land.

One of the sites set to benefit from this funding is in Weston-Super-Mare, North Somerset Council, who will receive over £9.8mof LAAC funding for infrastructure to bring forward 425 new homes, with at least 30% of them being affordable.

Another site included in the deal is in Winsford, Cheshire. This council will receive over £4.5m of funding which will then be used to accelerate the construction of 310 homes, including an assisted living extra care scheme.

Stephen Kinsella, chief land and development officer at Homes England said: ‘This funding will enable local authorities to prepare their sites for development and to bring forward the construction of homes.’

‘New homes will then be built out at pace using modern methods of construction.’

In related news, Manchester City Council has laid out how it plans to meet its new target of building 6,400 affordable homes in Manchester by 2025.

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