Land assembly and infrastructure fund
The West Midlands has been at the vanguard of regenerating brownfield land negotiating pioneering funding deals with Government. This includes securing a £100 million Land Fund in 2018, an £84 million Brownfield Housing Fund in 2020 and a £24 million National Competitive fund in 2020 to acquire and remediate land around priority sites, plus additional support of up to £250 million for infrastructure provision to enable housing and economic growth with additional announcements of £28 million and £17.4 million have also recently been secured. The Combined Authority have a dedicated in-house team to deploy the funding to eligible sites through the Single Commissioning Framework which provides a single portal for applicants to access devolved funds and places the criteria to access that funding clearly and transparently upfront.
The Single Commissioning Framework supports the principles of zero carbon and advanced methods of construction on sites deployed through the land funds. There are specific criteria which puts an onus on meeting Future Homes Standards and facilitating modular construction and applicants are encouraged to deliver sites which demonstrate a commitment to these principles. This stimulates demand for the Plan for Growth’s manufacturing of future housing cluster using Advanced Methods of Construction (AMC).
Current devolution negotiations with Government
are focused on securing a more flexible approach to
funding commercial and housing developments, including appropriate infrastructure provision. This will enable mixed- use regeneration of sites with a stronger emphasis on ‘place- making’, providing not only opportunities for people to live, but places for business to locate, people to work in and cultural and physical activity. This is central to our philosophy of levelling-up zones with larger-scale regeneration along corridors and within town centres made possible with this approach.
The West Midlands Investment Prospectus, launched at MIPIM in March, highlights over 20 major schemes with a development value of over £15 billion. As well as attracting large-scale commercial and mixed-use investments, the Combined Authority also uses its policy initiatives to support growth in the Plan for Growth clusters. Partnership endorsed routemaps and charters set out the principles and actions needed to embed Advanced Methods of Construction, zero carbon and good design into brownfield sites. A recent addition is the Public Land Charter adopted in 2022 which encourages the redevelopment of public land, including for commercial purposes which gives the clusters appropriate space to flourish.