Telford & Wrekin Council lands £3.7 million to build 500 homes on brownfield sites

The council has become the first non-constituent member of the West Midlands Combined Authority to receive a grant, and will use the money to support the building of about 540 new homes.

The money will allow building on previously used “derelict” land to start.

Work on these sites has stalled because of the high costs for developers to bring brownfield sites back into use. This funding will support remediation making sites viable and speeding up building.

The majority of sites that will benefit have already been granted planning permission for new homes. Some other brownfield sites that could access this money have also already been identified for housing in the council's Local Plan.

The £3.7 million grant will see homes built on 14 hectares of brownfield land and will create about 240 jobs in construction in the borough.

Council leader Shaun Davies said the investment will support sites across the borough and stop undeveloped sites blighting areas. It will also help the anticipated growth in the area’s population over the next 15 years.

He said: “This is great news for the borough and we’re very grateful for WMCA’s support. They clearly see what’s happening here in Telford, our rapid business growth and their confidence in us to deliver.

“This fund will help ensure that we can do even more to encourage housing development on brownfield land.

“We’ve also recouped the equivalent of the cost of our WMC non-constituent membership for almost the next 150 years.

“I am sure that if we had not been a non-constituent member from WMCA outset, the borough would not have secured this. We will start talks with developers very shortly around how they can access this funding."

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “I hope this gives a powerful message that the combined authority is determined to work with and provide benefits across the wider area. This investment will help deliver housing which contributes to our collective housing targets and support construction jobs.”