£63m has been allocated to the three housing growth areas outside the Thames Gateway to boost transport links and green spaces.
Announced on Wednesday by regeneration minister Lord Rooker, the award is part of the £164m earmarked for rapid housebuilding in the south of England under the Communities Plan.

In July the government outlined how it would spend the first £100m of this money (HT 1 August, page 9), with £63m going to the South Midlands growth area, £8m to Ashford and £30m to Cambridge/Stansted. Of the latest round, £35m will go to the South Midlands growth area and £9m will pay for a new road in Bedford that will enable the development of a 6000-home site.

A further £9.5m will go to the London-Stansted-Cambridge growth corridor; £4.5m will kick-start the Ashford town centre regeneration project and £11.5m has been set aside for a number of green spaces to ensure environmental sustainability.

This comes as the formal consultation on an urban development corporation for West Northamptonshire was due to be launched by the ODPM yesterday.

The UDC will cover three local authorities – Northampton council, South Northamptonshire council and Daventry council.

Source

Housing Today