Delays holding back 125,000 new homes have already been cleared by the accelerator to date, and it is now looking to unlock further sites
Launched in 2024, the New Homes Accelerator helps cut through red tape that can stall housing developments. It will now focus on seven new sites across the East Midlands, the South East and the East of England, as well as London.
The programme will also extend to smaller sites
Previously, the programme focused on developments of 500 new homes or more; this is to change in order to align with the government’s drive to build 1.5 million new homes.
The new sites targeted by the accelerator are located in the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor. These are:
- Land West of Howes Lane, North West Bicester
- Himley Village, North West Bicester
- Hawkwell Village, North West Bicester
- Wretchwick Green, South East Bicester
- Stewartby Brickworks, Bedfordshire
Housing secretary Steve Reed said: “The number of families and young people locked out of the dream of home ownership is unacceptable so we are doing everything we can to make that dream come true.
“We’re stripping away the barriers blocking new homes being built and our New Homes Accelerator means 125,000 will now go ahead. But we’re just getting started.
“This next phase will see spades in the ground even faster as we build the 1.5 million homes this country needs.”
Homes England is also boosting housing delivery
Over the course of the last year, Homes England has also been making partnerships and lending loans to housing developers through their own schemes to boost housing delivery in the country.
Earlier this month, the housing agency gave an SME accelerator loan to Yorkshire Homes, worth £3.38m, to develop 21 affordable and open-market homes. The loan is specifically meant to help secure the land needed and was awarded through the Home Building Fund.
Furthermore, they confirmed that two planning applications to build 5,500 new homes to a new town, Wychavon in Worcestershire, have been sent off. The town will be built in partnership with Summix, and the new homes will be built both in the town centre and a large neighbourhood in the south.
Wychavon Town is currently in the planning and public consultation phase, and completion is expected around 2041. The South Worcestershire Development Plan Review has an allocation of 10,000 homes, meaning that Homes England will be more than half of the allocation.
