Councils receive share of funding to free up brownfield sites

Funding is made available to encourage councils to release brownfield sites for housing development.

The £2m for Surrey will include the cost of asbestos removal, clearing empty buildings and former car parks or industrial land to make way for homes.

Surrey Heath Borough Council said the grant would support its new housing development in London Road, Camberley.

He said: “The grant will be used to demolish derelict buildings on the site and safely remove asbestos from the former Allders building, paving the way for future development. »

Boroughs and districts are preparing for new government housing targets, which could lead to an increase in demand for new homes.

In an effort to ease some of the pressure, Labor allocated £68 million to 54 local authorities to turn neglected land into housing.

Surrey Heath Borough Council is set to receive £1.5m, while Tandridge District Council is set to receive £250,000.

The funding was announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said: “From the start we promised to enable this country to rebuild to deliver 1.5 million homes during this parliament and help resolve the housing crisis that we inherited.

“This funding for councils will help transform brownfield sites and brownfield sites into thousands of new homes in places where people want to live and work.”

Planning authorities such as Waverley Borough Council have no control over the rate of housing completion.

He wrote to Deputy First Minister Angela Rayner about the government’s wider planning reforms, which would require Waverley to deliver 1,379 homes a year.

Council leader Paul Follows said the target was “unrealistic” and “unachievable”.

He said: “The proposed standard method is fundamentally detached from the realities of local constraints, including national designations such as the Surrey Hills National Landscape.

“This risks harming both the environment and community cohesion, and we urgently need a more credible approach tailored to local needs. »