Government to fund £55m of new builds

The funding comes from the government’s £450m Local Authority Accelerated Construction (LAAC) Programme.

Government to fund £55m of new builds

Homes England has agreed funding deals, worth a total of £55m, with 12 local authorities to deliver 4,000 homes across England.

The deal will support 12 local authorities to accelerate housing across England on sites in their ownership and the programme prioritises the use of modern methods of construction will contribute to an increase the build time by an average of 40%.

The funding totalling £55m has been awarded through the government’s £450m Local Authority Accelerated Construction (LAAC) Programme and will support local authorities with a range of work required to prepare their sites for the development of new homes such as infrastructure enabling works, planning and technical expertise and site remediation.

Housing minister Kit Malthouse said: "We haven’t built enough homes in this country for far too long and our accelerated construction programme is here to change that, and fast.

"This £55m funding boost will help councils get 4,000 new homes built across the country using the latest modern methods that cut down on construction time. We must keep building more, better, faster to meet our ambition to building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s."

The funding will be used to kick start the development of 4,000 new homes across England, including 1,400 at a 400 acre site at Horton Heath, Eastleigh. Eastleigh Borough Council purchased the site in 2018 and the development will benefit from £20.8m of LAAC funding to accelerate the delivery of a mix of one, two, three and four bedroom homes, including a minimum of 30% affordable housing.

The local authorities involved are the City of York Council, Gateshead Council, Newcastle City Council, Pendle Borough Council, Eastleigh Borough Council, Medway Council, Dorset Council, Leicestershire County Council, High Peak Borough Council, City of Lincoln Council, Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, and South Norfolk Council.