Growing Places Fund must unlock 'stuck sites' for new homes and jobs

Published by Fiona Mannion for TCPA in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

Government has today announced details of a £500 million fund to help kick-start housing and infrastructure. The Growing Places Fund, will help "get Britain building again" by covering up-front capital costs that are preventing projects getting off the ground, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said. 

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of leading housing and planning charity, the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), who are campaigning for a rediscovery ofBritain’s planning heritage in creating high quality, beautiful and inclusive places through the garden city principles, said:

“Today’s housing challenge is compounded by a financial crisis and an ageing population, as well as new global pressures from climate change and economic restructuring.”

“We must find a way to move forward into a new era of building attractive, high quality, sustainable new neighbourhoods - in garden cities, villages and urban extensions - and coordinated upfront infrastructure delivery is essential to meeting this aim. Initiatives such as the Growing Places Fund have the potential to really help get Britain building again, by unlocking stuck sites through the provision of key infrastructure such as improved local transport links tackling flood storage capacity.”

The Growing Places Fund will be available to help boost economic growth by getting the required infrastructure built to enable the creation of new jobs and homes by getting stalled projects moving again. The 38 local enterprise partnerships will be able to apply for the funding and then take decisions about what to prioritise locally. Councils will support these plans with their technical and financial expertise, as well as being accountable for the funding and acting as fund manager.