West Midlands Combined Authority and Homes England sign agreement to work together

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Homes England have signed an agreement to work together to boost brownfield development using a share of £400m of devolved funds.

The combined authority, which consists of 18 councils, and government agency Homes England have now signed a memorandum of understanding to formalise the West Midlands Strategic Place Partnership (SPP), which is aiming to deliver 12,000 homes on brownfield land.

A WMCA spokesperson said the SPP will ”commit both organisations to work together to further remediate difficult to deliver and stalled brownfield sites, and to invest in the delivery of good quality, affordable, and future-proof homes.” The SPP forms part of the ‘deeper devolution deal’ which has been given £400m to boost the delivery of housing in the region.

Andy Street, chair of the WMCA and mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Almost 33% of all the new homes built to date with WMCA investments have been affordable and the West Midlands is the only region that remains on track to meet its housing targets 215,000 new homes by 2031.” 

“This partnership with Homes England, backed by the hundreds of millions of pounds we have secured for brownfield regeneration through our Deeper Devolution Deal, will further accelerate that success and see yet more homes constructed, more communities transformed and the quality of life improved for people right across our region.” 

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Ian Courts, leader of Solihull council spoke, said: “One of the benefits this closer relationship will bring is a much better understanding of the current funding mechanisms available and how we can bring them together to maximise the impact of our investments focused on building more homes in the region.”