Government housing agency Homes England has agreed on funding deals worth €44.2m (£38.2m) with six local authorities to speed up the construction of at least 2,072 homes across the country. The deals are the latest to be awarded through the Government’s €405m (£350m) Local Authority Accelerated Construction (LAAC) programme, which was launched to help unlock public land and increase the speed of delivery on local authority housing schemes.
The funding will be used by the local authorities to invest in infrastructure and enabling works to get 13 sites – from Somerset to Cheshire – ready for the development of new homes. Local authorities awarded funding are encouraged to use both local SMEs and modern methods of construction (MMC) – from factory-fabricated components to 3D modular construction – on their sites, to reflect the Government’s commitment to investing in infrastructure and widening the use of smaller builders on publicly owned land.
New sites set to benefit from LAAC funding include land at Locking Parklands, Weston-Super-Mare, where North Somerset Council will receive over €11.3m (£9.8m) of LAAC funding for infrastructure to bring forward 425 new homes, at least 30% of which will be affordable. Another of the sites, in Winsford, Cheshire, will benefit from over €5.2m (£4.5m) LAAC funding to accelerate the construction of 310 homes, including a 60-home extra care scheme.
Stephen Kinsella, Chief Land and Development Officer at Homes England, said: “This funding will enable local authorities to prepare their sites for development and to bring forward the construction of homes. New homes will then be built out at pace using modern methods of construction.”
