Sandway Homes, the Sefton Council-owned housing development company, has welcomed the confirmation of £3.15 million funding that will enable work to start on two brownfield sites.
Agreed on Friday (26th November) by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, the £3.15 million comes from the from the Government’s Brownfield Land Fund. It will support the development of 150 new homes at Bentham’s Way, Southport and 63 new homes on the former site of Bootle High School.
In July, the Government’s Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities allocated £45m to the Combined Authority from its Brownfield Land Fund, which is designed to support the remediation of sites for development across the City Region. Remediation involves detecting and safely eradicating any hazards or contamination from sites that have previously had industrial or other uses.
Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities said:
“This confirmation of the funding by the Combined Authority is great news for Sefton. After negotiations with our partners, we are now in a position to ensure that Sefton continues to maximise access to funding to release further brownfield housing sites for delivery.
I look forward to seeing the updated second phase of Sandway’s Business Plan for the development of these sites in the coming months, alongside the delivery of the 141 homes as part of Phase 1.”
Louise Davies, Managing Director of Sandway Homes, said:
“Targeting challenging brownfield sites for development, in locations where new homes are in high demand is an important part of Sandway’s business model, which complements other schemes being delivered across the Borough.
Our successful applications for this Brownfield Land Fund support announced today means we will be able to progress these further sites and provide more local people with the affordable, high-quality homes they want.”
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has already awarded £1.05 million Brownfield Land Funding to Sandway’s Phase 1 development at Sefton Grange in Netherton. Located near Buckley Hill Lane, this new development will transform the former Z Block site will provide 18 quality-built apartments and 55 attractive two-, three- and four-bed homes.
Following Sefton Council Cabinet approval of the disposal of three new sites for development, Sandway submitted the further application for this second round of Brownfield Land Funding for the Southport and Bootle High School sites.
Subject to approval by the Combined Authority and further Business Case approval by Sefton Council, these two sites together with a third will bring the total number of houses to be delivered by Sandway as part of its Phase 2 plans to in the region of 350 new homes. All Sandway schemes will continue to include affordable housing as part of the mix, providing a combination of affordable rent, shared ownership and open market sales.
Wholly owned by Sefton Council, Sandway Homes was established in 2018. The company directly supports Sefton Council’s Vision 2030 commitment to create 11,000 new, high quality homes across the Borough by 2030. In addition to the Sefton Grange, Sandway also has two other construction projects underway delivering 48 new homes at Sandy Brook, Ainsdale and 30 new homes in Barton’s Close, Crossens.