Network Rail property company to unlock land for 40,000 homes
The railway manager is looking to join with London & Continental Railways to attract public and private investment in brownfield sites across the country, including Newcastle’s Forth Yards site.
The move has been prompted by the government’s plans to release land from across its wider estate, with unused land set to be identified, developed, and released for development.
A partnership between the Ministry of Defence and Homes England will be the blueprint for the approach to accelerate public land release, with the defence secretary identifying surplus defence land which could house 100,000 homes.
The company will become operational later on this year, and aims to support the delivery of the 1.5m homes promised by the Labour government.
Significant sites included in the pipeline include the 100-acre regeneration scheme in Newcastle, which hopes to deliver around 5,000 homes, as well as projects in Manchester, Cambridge, and Nottingham.
Defence secretary John Healey said: “This work will unlock thousands of new homes on surplus defence land, including in North Yorkshire, Nottingham and Cambridgeshire…
“This taskforce is a bold first step, as we make the most of an historic opportunity to build over 100,000 homes on surplus defence land in the coming years, delivering on our commitments to British families and our Armed Forces.”
