A £40 million injection of funding from the West of England Combined Authority is to be used to help create more homes at a faster pace across the region.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) Committee and West of England Joint Committee has approved a new Housing Delivery Strategy which sets out ambitions to increase and accelerate the delivery of new homes for the area through to 2030.
West of England Mayor Tim Bowles said: “As an attractive and growing region that is bringing new jobs, careers and opportunities to our residents, we need more homes in the right places and at prices people can afford. Our Strategy for Homes will make that happen.
“The strategy will speed up building and make sure we have the infrastructure in place to regenerate places and create new communities with homes of all types, particularly affordable housing.”
WECA and local authorities across the West of England are working together to develop a long-term Housing Delivery Strategy which sets out a route map for sites, from land acquisition through to construction.
The process will be streamlined and funding will be aligned to build new homes where they are needed most.
Initially, proposals must demonstrate that they deliver at least one additional key benefit, such as carbon reduction or additional affordable housing, or the development is a flagship for new technologies such as off-site manufacturing.
Over time the quality bar will rise to maximise delivery of additional outcomes such as zero-carbon, affordable, easily adaptable homes or new technology design and build.
The strategy has been built around an initial funding package of £40 million from the WECA Investment Fund through to 2023 and a bid for £500,000 from the Government’s One Public Estate funding programme to release land, owned by the public sector, for house building.
