Huncoat Garden Village nets £30m in Homes England cash
Hyndburn Council voted to accept £29.9m from the government’s regeneration agency, money that will go towards delivering infrastructure to enable the delivery of 1,816 homes on the 355-acre brownfield site.
- Hear from Homes England at Place North Question Time on 5 November. Book your ticket.
Situated near Junction 8 of the M65, Huncoat Garden Village is set to be built on the former Huncoat Power Station and former Huncoat Colliery site. In addition to housing it is meant to deliver a local centre, expanded primary school, and car parking at Huncoat Railway Station.
The masterplan drawn up by Arcadis and Avison Young also features nearly 60 acres of open space, including a new woodland.
The garden village is part of Hyndburn’s emerging local plan and, as such, the local plan’s adoption is one of the terms behind the deal between Homes England and the council.
An upgraded Junction 8 and a residential relief road are two of the infrastructure elements that will be able to go forward because of Homes England’s funding. The £29.9m will also go towards acquiring all the land required for the road and remediating the brownfield site itself.
Huncoat Garden Village is to be delivered by Hyndburn Council, Homes England, and Lancashire County Council.
Hyndburn Council Leader Cllr Munsif Dad said that Huncoat Garden Village was at the top of the authority’s agenda.
“The new government has set ambitious house building targets for Hyndburn and large-scale projects such as this will help the council achieve these,” he said, referencing the jump in the local authority’s housing targets from the current 50 homes figure to the projected 313 suggested by the government.
“£30m of investment in infrastructure for Hyndburn is good news,” Dad continued. “We are happy to accept this award from Homes England, who we have invited to meet with us in Hyndburn next month, and look forward to delivering the groundwork to provide many new homes.”
Homes England has been supporting housing delivery projects throughout the North West, committing £29m for Wirral Council’s 633-home Hind Street Urban Garden Village, £55m for Liverpool Waters’ 2,350-home Central Docks. Through its role at ECF, the organisation is helping deliver 933 homes at Salford’s Crescent Innovation district and the transformation of St Helens town centre.
Brilliant work by Homes England across the north on major schemes, a point well worth noting in the drive to ever greater devolution with no guarantee of any better outcomes.
By Anonymous
Anonymous 1st Nov – Homes England (HE) do indeed do some great work, however they still have to go cap in hand to their London office to get projects approved and I know that many northern bids get refused by London. The HE budget should be devolved to local Mayors and other local leaders, going cap in hand to London should be a thing of the past.
By Anonymous
I would be more comforted if there was more evidence of devolution actually delivering added value rather than adding another tier of local government at a point when most Local Authorities are at the point of financial breakdown. I agree with devolved funding allocations to the regions so long as there’s recognition that expertise and knowledge extends beyond the public sector with limited development experience and commercial expertise.
By Anonymous