Derby City Council has secured over £500,000 in Government funding to help build new affordable homes for rent in the city.
The money has been awarded by HM Government via the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF2). The homes will all be owned by the Council and managed by Derby Homes.
Two sites will benefit from the award. Plans to build 17 new homes on The Knoll, a long-vacant site on the corner of Village Street and Stenson Road, were approved on 20 October.
The BLRF2 fund has awarded £367,177 towards this development, which will be used to prepare and stabilise the ground ready for building work to begin. This involves repairing the retaining wall around the site, levelling the ground and providing a new road onto the site.
In addition, £203,509 has been earmarked for a proposed development of 17 affordable homes on the underused Drewry Lane car park, which is subject to planning consent. This is the site of a former metal works, and the funding would be used to remove contaminated earth from below the surface and replace it with clean soil.
Councillor Shiraz Khan, Cabinet Member for Housing, Property and Regulatory Services, said:
“The BLRF2 grant is a welcome contribution towards providing much-needed, affordable social housing in the city. The value of both projects is many times more than this funding, but it recognises the challenges in making brownfield sites suitable for development.
“Subject to planning and a tender exercise, we would expect construction to start as early as next spring, with completions due in 2025. Both these sites are part of our joint programme with Derby Homes, which aims to build or acquire around 100 affordable homes per year to address the urgent need for housing in Derby.”
The BLRF2 fund is managed by One Public Estate, of which Derby City Council is a member. One Public Estate is a partnership between the Office of Government Property in the Cabinet Office, the Local Government Association, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It provides practical and technical support and funding for public sector partners to deliver ambitious property-led programmes in collaboration.