PRESS RELEASE : Homes England launches new approach to transform places and boost housing supply [July 2023]

The press release issued by Homes England on 24 July 2023.

The Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund will focus on regenerating brownfield land and supporting the creation of new settlements.

A single, more integrated and flexible Homes England fund

The Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund (BIL) will span Homes England’s land, grant and equity activities so it can better support the needs of places, partners and their projects.

The primary objective of BIL is to bring forward strategic sites and housing-led opportunities which support economic growth and long-term housing supply, with at least 60% of activity focused on brownfield land – land that has been previously used and is now vacant, derelict and sometimes contaminated.

Our role is to work with partners to find the optimum solution for infrastructure, land and enabling – this could be at a place or individual site level – and may span single interventions or packages of integrated activity.

Over the lifetime of the fund, we’ll invest £1bn to unlock 40,000 homes, 200,000sqm of employment floorspace and significant levels of private sector investment.

We’ll do this by either undertaking activity directly as Homes England, working in partnership, or by contracting directly with public and private sector partners.

Eligibility for funding

Up to £1 billion is available for projects across England. However, we would expect the main source of funding for projects within the Greater London Authority, Greater Manchester and West Midlands Combined Authority areas to be accessed locally in line with arrangements agreed with government.

You may be eligible for funding if:

• you meet the strategic aims of the fund
• your project would stall, or could not progress, without this funding
• your project will lead to the development of new housing
• your project represents value for money
• you are a UK-registered corporate entity, limited liability partnership (LLP), or English local authority or public entity
• your project will contract by 31 March 2026

Full details about the fund and how to apply can be found here.