Brownfield fund to unlock 8,000 homes across Northern MCAs

Nestled away in the government’s new towns announcement was a separate £234m grant that will be split between seven Mayoral Combined Authorities including Tees Valley, Hull and East Yorkshire, and York and North Yorkshire.

Also included are Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the East Midlands, Greater Lincolnshire, and West of England.

The grant is intended to unlock stalled or unviable sites by addressing abnormal costs often associated with brownfield development, such as remediation, infrastructure provision and site assembly.

So far, Hull & East Yorkshire CA has confirmed it will be receiving £21m spread across four years, with Mayor Luke Campbell noting “It means we can speed up the delivery of new homes and regenerate areas that’ve been waiting for fresh investment.”

It forms part of a wider push to bring forward urban land for housing while limiting pressure on greenfield sites.

The funding provides a more immediate delivery mechanism than the longer-term new towns programme, enabling local leaders to progress smaller-scale schemes within existing urban areas.

The focus on Mayoral Combined Authorities also reinforces the government’s devolution-led approach, giving regional bodies greater control over housing investment and delivery tools.

While modest in scale compared with the £16bn National Housing Bank announced alongside it, the brownfield fund is expected to play a targeted role in accelerating housing output in areas with high levels of previously developed land and regeneration need.