Housing secretary also launches group to explore housing opportunity around Euston station
The housing secretary has announced more than £175m to increase housing delivery in London.
Michael Gove’s latest package of investment includes £50m for estate regeneration schemes that are supported by local communities.
This money is on top of the £1bn allocated through the Affordable Homes Programme, which was opened up for use on regeneration schemes last June.
A further £125m loan will support 8,000 homes across three major brownfield schemes in Newham and Southwark.
Roughly 40% of new homes on two of the sites, which have planned permission, will be “genuinely affordable”. The first new homes are expected to be ready in 2027.
Government is also working with Camden council to explore options for housing regeneration around Euston station, with an initial £4m investment to establish a Euston Housing Delivery Group.
Plans to build a HS2 terminus station were mothballed last March, with the future of the project dependent on attracting private finance.
The group will assess the scale of housing opportunity beyond the Euston station site, identify infrastructure services required and consider how these opportunities could be delivered in partnership with the Department for Transport, the Euston Partnership and the local council.
>> MPs say HS2 now a ‘poor value, rump of a project’ and question whether Euston will ever get built
Andrea Ruckstuhl, chief executive of Lendlease in Europe, said: “A Euston Housing Delivery Group is a very positive step forwards as there is clearly enormous potential for the delivery of new homes there and the regeneration of an area that we believe can become one of Europe’s leading centres for innovation and life sciences.”
The announcement is one of several this week by Gove. Yesterday he unveiled proposed changes to planning guidance in a bid to boost brownfield development while on Monday he announced a £3bn extension to the Affordable Homes Guarantees Scheme, which enables registered providers to access cheaper government-backed loan finance.
The government also published the London Plan review this week, which was commissioned by Gove as a result of his concern about housing delivery levels in the capital. The review, led by planning barrister Christopher Katkowski KC, said the complexity of policies in mayor Sadiq Khan’s London plan is frustrating delivery. Khan dismissed the review as a “stunt”.
More on Gove’s housing plans this week
>> Gove unveils proposed planning guidance changes in bid to boost brownfield development
>> Gove’s London Plan review says Khan’s strategy ‘frustrates brownfield delivery’
>> Gove appears to have woken up to the housing crisis – but his solutions are half-baked
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