05.12.17
DCLG sets aside £25m to support housing design quality
The government has opened the first £11m of a £25m fund intended to help councils gain the skills and capacity they need to deliver high quality housing growth at scale.
The new ‘Planning Delivery Fund’ is aimed at encouraging more innovation in the design of new housing developments, including offering design advice and support for authorities.
In the Autumn Budget, the government reaffirmed commitments to build 300,000 homes a year by the end of parliament and the DCLG says policies such as this will help councils contribute to that total.
“Locally-led developments have enormous potential to deliver the scale and quality of housing growth that we need,” explained housing and planning minister Alok Sharma. “By supporting our local authorities, we will be able to unlock more homes where people want to live.
“These measures included the £25m of government support which will help develop new communities that will not only help deliver high-quality well-designed homes, but will also bring new jobs and facilities and a boost to local economies.”
The announcement also includes a further £3m fund dedicated to supporting the delivery of 14 garden villages currently in the government’s programme.
In addition, the DCLG will publish a consultation on plans which will allow the creation of locally-led ‘New Town Development Corporations’, and help speed up the delivery of new garden towns.
The garden village programme currently backs 24 projects with £16m of funding dedicated to staff and studies which are hoped to improve the delivery of the projects.
The initial £11m of the ‘Planning Delivery Fund’ will be open to bids for the financial years 2017-18 to 2018-19.
Top images: allinvisuality
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become a PSE columnist? If so, click here.