Developers are to get clear guidance on how to secure funding for homes and regeneration schemes with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).
A guide on how investors and developers can secure a share of multi-million pound funding to help unlock land for homes and jobs is to be launched by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).
‘Building the Future – a guide to the combined authority’s Single Commissioning Framework’ sets out what developers can do to win funding earmarked by the WMCA to kick-start stalled developments across the region.
The guide is aimed at making the process for securing finance clearer and easier with the WMCA working with developers to find ways for the schemes to support the authority’s key economic and social goals.
These include tackling youth and long-term unemployment, securing affordable housing, maximising public transport connectivity and supporting advanced methods of construction.
The document will be officially launched by Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street at the Forum for Growth conference at Resorts World, Birmingham on Tuesday 18th September.
Cllr Mike Bird, WMCA portfolio holder for housing and land and leader of Walsall Council, said: “Developers and investors will be able to use this document to quickly understand how our funding is geared towards schemes that support our key priorities on affordable homes, brownfield regeneration and attracting investment and jobs into our region.
“The funding is also designed to help get things moving on sites where redevelopment has stalled because of issues like the high cost of cleaning up brownfield sites and getting them ready for development. That’s where the WMCA can step in and help.”
The region needs to build 215,000 new homes by 2031 to meet future housing and economic demand. It also needs to find sites for an extra 20,000 new businesses expected to be operating in the region by the early 2030s.
The WMCA has introduced a brownfield first policy where new developments are built on brownfield land wherever possible, helping to relieve pressure on the green belt.
