£36 million plan to tackle housing crisis in Liverpool

Fourteen ‘brownfield’ sites have been identified for nearly 3,000 new homes in the Liverpool City Region as part of Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram’s plan to tackle the housing crisis.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has been asked to approve the use of the remaining £36 million from its £45 million Brownfield Land Fund to support the building schemes. Since the £45 million funding was announced in July 2020, the Combined Authority has already invested £11 million in seven projects across the Liverpool City Region, which will deliver 886 homes.

The latest round of funding is split between eight private sector-led projects, identified following an over-subscribed open call during the summer, expected to deliver around 1,400 homes, and six local authority-led projects, expected to deliver a further 1,200 homes.

In total, 700 brownfield sites have been identified across the six local authorities of the Liverpool City Region. The updated brownfield register identifies 1,813 acres of brownfield sites which could provide space for more than 42,000 homes, if remediated.

Rotheram said: “For too many people across our region, the chance to own a home of their own remains out of reach. To tackle the housing crisis and help more people realise their home ownership ambitions, we need to take serious action to get more homes built across our region.

“When I was elected, I promised to prioritise brownfield sites for house building and have been working hard to make that a reality. Last year we spent £11 million to help deliver almost 900 homes on brownfield sites. We are now looking at another £36 million that should take the total to almost 4,000 new homes for people across our region.”