Telford & Wrekin Borough Council gets £3.7 million for new homes

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has made a £3.7 million contribution to Telford & Wrekin Council to kick-start building new homes on brownfield sites in the borough.

The council is the first non-constituent member of the WMCA to win such funding, which will help around 540 new homes to get built.

The money will allow building on previously-used derelict land to start.

Work on these sites has stalled because of the high costs for developers to bring brownfield sites back into use. This funding will support remediation making sites viable and speeding up delivery.

The majority of sites that can benefit have already been granted planning permission for new homes.

A small number of other brownfield sites that could access this money have also already been identified for housing in the Local Plan.

As well as building around 540 new homes, the £3.7 million grant will see 14 hectare of brownfield land developed and will create around 240 jobs in construction in the borough.

The investment will support sites across the borough and stop undeveloped sites blighting areas, while providing more much-needed new homes with the area’s population set to grow in the next 15 years.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “I hope this gives a powerful message that the Combined Authority is determined to work with and provide benefits across the wider area.

“This investment will help deliver housing which contributes to our collective housing targets and support construction jobs.”

Shaun Davies, Telford & Wrekin Council leader, said: “This is great news for the borough and we’re very grateful for WMCA’s support. They clearly see what’s happening here in Telford, our rapid business growth and their confidence in us to deliver.

“This fund will help ensure that we can do even more to encourage housing development on brownfield land.

“We’ve also recouped the equivalent of the cost of our WMC non-constituent membership for almost the next 150 years.

“I am sure that if we had not been a non-constituent member from WMCA outset, the borough would not have secured this. We will start talks with developers very shortly around how they can access this funding.”