Last week the Government confirmed its first allocation from the fund – amounting to £866M – which will be shared among 133 council led housing projects in England. These capital grants will be spent on roads, footpaths and other supporting infrastructure needed ahead of new housing developments to make them viable.

 

Civil Engineering Contractors Association director of external affairs Marie-Claude Hemming welcomed the investment and called on local authorities to now bring their schemes forward to market.

 

“There is an urgent need to bolster economic growth, and to deliver the infrastructure communities and businesses rely upon up and down the country,” she said. “To do this, we need to get spades in the ground without delay.”

 

The initial £866M allocation from the Housing Infrastructure Fund is expected to help support up to 200,000 new homes. Government plans to deliver 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s.

 

“This fund finances vital infrastructure such as roads, schools and bridges, which will kick start housing development in some of Britain’s highest demand areas,” commented Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond.

 

Key allocations made last week include £10M for highway infrastructure to unlock some 3300 homes at the Ashton Green housing site in Leicester, and £10M for the construction of a bypass in Botley, Hampshire, to help unlock 1000 new homes.

 

The Housing Infrastructure Fund is divided into two streams. Single and lower tier local authorities can make bids of up to £10M from a ‘Marginal Viability Fund’ to get smaller scale infrastructure in place for new or existing housing sites.

 

Meanwhile a ‘Forward Fund’ – available to top tier local authorities – is for a small number of strategic and high impact infrastructure projects, with bids of up to £250M being invited. Final funding from this stream will be announced in the autumn.