Bidding opens for £2.3bn housing infrastructure pot

The Government has fulfilled an earlier commitment to unlock housing sites, calling on councils to bid for cash from a new £2.3bn funding pot.

Cash will be allocated to local authorities on a competitive basis to pay for housing site infrastructure.

Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, said the funding from 2017-18 to 2020-21 could unlock 100,000 new homes in areas of high demand.

Speaking in Birmingham at the LGA Conference today, he said cash would be released for building roads, bridges, energy networks and other utilities, where housing schemes were being held back.

The new investment through the Housing Infrastructure Fund  will also be available to help build new schools, healthcare centres and digital infrastructure.

Once proposals have been approved, it is expected that local authorities would begin building the necessary infrastructure immediately and for the homes to follow quickly afterwards.

HIF is part of the government’s wider £23bn National Productivity Investment Fund, which targets spending on areas critical to boosting productivity, including on housing, transport and digital communications.

Javid, said: “To build the homes this country needs, we need to deliver the right infrastructure in the right place at the right time.

“By investing in local infrastructure, we can help unlock building thousands of new homes in the areas where they are needed most.”

LGA Chairman, Lord Porter said: “We’re pleased that the government has followed through on its commitment to invest in infrastructure linked to housing and that this to be led by councils”

“Going forward, what’s crucial is that the arrangements to access this fund are flexible, especially around different housing tenures, and that all councils can access funds to deliver housing for their communities.

“Councils know their communities, and the places in them, best and so it’s right that approaches to invest in local infrastructure are led by local authorities.

Home Builders Federation Planning Director Andrew Whitaker said: “Local authorities that plan for growth should be supported and that will, in turn, allow house builders to get on and deliver the homes our communities so desperately need.”

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/07/04/bidding-opens-for-2-3bn-housing-infrastructure-pot/

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