Brownfield funds destined for area
oliver.clay@trinitymirror.com @OliverClayRWWN
HALTON is yet to discover how much it will share from a £45m pot of funding awarded to redevelop derelict land as housing across the Liverpool City Region (LCR).
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last Tuesday that the Government was to release part of the Government’s £400m Brownfield Land Fund to areas in the North of England including the LCR.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram slated the sum as less than a quarter than the £200m estimated as the minimum needed across the combined authority’s six districts of Halton, Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral.
Halton has no shortage of derelict brownfield sites and buildings.
If the £45m was split six ways, the borough would receive £7.5m. But if it is divided according to relative population size, the amount would slip to around £3.8m.
Other features of Mr Johnson’s ‘build build build’ speech included shredding planning regulations and introducing a Use Classes Order allowing commercial premises to change use without need for a planning application and local authority approval, and widening the range of buildings that can be converted to residential use without planning permission.
Similar regulations allowing projects to bypass the local authority planning system already exist in the form of the ‘Permitted Development’ rules, which were used to convert Castle View House in Runcorn into flats and to gain permission on appeal via the Planning Inspectorate to turn East Lane House into flats.
Also under the rules, builders will no longer need a normal planning application to demolish and rebuild vacant and redundant residential and commercial buildings if they are rebuilt as homes.
Property owners will be able to build additional space above their properties via a fast track approval process, subject to neighbour consultation.
Other features of the announcement include a £12bn ‘affordable homes’ programme to ‘support up to 180,000 new affordable homes’ over the next eight years, and £450m of available loans via the Home Builders Fund to help smaller developers access finances and expected to produce around 7,200 homes.
As well as Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, east Runcorn MP Mike Amesbury was similarly unimpressed, tweeting: “More permitted development, high streets hollowed out even more, bypassing local planning authorities, councillors and residents. Even less genuinely affordable housing with pitiful sums available for social rent.”
In a statement to the Weekly News, Mr Rotheram said: “More new homes in our region are vital for our economic recovery.
“Since I was elected three years ago, I have been lobbying for more Government funding for brownfield development, so today’s announcement is welcome.
“However, £45m represents just under quarter of what we need.
“We estimate that the Liverpool City Region requires at least £200m to unlock our current brownfield development needs and build thousands of new homes.
“In that context, today’s announcement is a good start and will mean that we can start to develop the work required.
“I will continue to work with the Government to unlock further funding to really kickstart housebuilding and the economic benefits it will bring across the region.”