North East Combined Authority strengthens strategic ties with Homes England

Homes England and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority marked a new housing partnership this week with a joint investment in a regeneration project on the Wirral.

The organisations’ £51m funding for a 1,500-home scheme in Birkenhead came after they signed a Strategic Place Partnership agreement to accelerate housebuilding in the region.

The agency will invest £29m in the Hind Street regeneration scheme, following a £22m commitment from the combined authority.

Across the North East, the new agreement will deepen existing local-national partnership working between the NECA, the agency and local authorities, with funding and expertise already supporting a range of projects, including Forth Yards in Newcastle and West Park in Sunderland. 

Kim McGuinness, mayor of the North East, said: “Everyone in the North East deserves a place they are proud to call home, and that is why I have made housing a key plank of my plans as mayor. Indeed, this announcement follows closely from the news [that] we have invested £4.5m to support the regeneration of Horden in east Durham.

“Signing the Strategic Place Partnership with Homes England will allow us to take some of our biggest brownfield sites and turn them from eyesores into the homes and communities people need.

“It’s an opportunity to turbocharge development across the region by working with the agency and our local authorities to create new homes that are affordable, energy efficient and where people can thrive.”

Homes England has already signed several such partnerships with combined authorities, including the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Greater Manchester and South Essex. The long-term commitments are centred around a shared plan for bringing forward housing growth in each region.

Peter Denton, chief executive of Homes England, said: “A Strategic Place Partnership isn’t a ceremonial bit of paper. It signals a long-term commitment where regional and national teams work together for the benefit of communities, to achieve the visions of local leaders who understand what people local to the area want and need to thrive.

“My colleagues and I are excited to deepen our ties with the combined authority to help accelerate progress. We are united by a passion to get things done in the right way, in the right places, to help ensure successful, sustainable regeneration and more affordable, quality homes for thousands of people in the North East.”

Last week, housing minister Matthew Pennycook sent a letter to Homes England to ask it to maximise the number of social rent homes provided through the remaining Affordable Homes Programme funding.