Brownfield Land Release Fund Opens
Last year, the North’s combined authorities were allocated £276m from the Brownfield Housing Fund. Building on that success, at the Budget in December 2020, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced further funding for brownfield land release in areas not currently covered by Mayoral/Combined Authority arrangements.
The Brownfield Land Release Fund is being managed by One Public Estate (OPE), and has now opened for applications. The Fund comprises up to £75 million of capital grant, available to eligible English local authorities to support local authority brownfield land release for housing, with £25 million of this ring-fenced to support self and custom-build delivery. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 2nd June 2021.
You can find out more about the funding and contact details for further information on the Local Government Association’s website here. The fund is aimed to release local authority-owned land by the end of March 2024, and OPE expect the funding to be attractive to sites typically accommodating up to 250 homes.
Funding can be used for abnormal costs including demolition, small-scale infrastructure, access challenges and environmental constraints.
Commenting, NHC Chief Executive Tracy Harrison said, “We know that our members often face viability challenges bringing tricky brownfield sites forward for development. The Brownfield Land Release Fund, coming after the £276m of brownfield funding for the North last year, is another very welcome development. The NHC will continue to engage with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government on these issues.”
NHC contact: Brian Robson, Executive Director (Policy and Public Affairs): brian.robson@northern-consortium.org.uk
Levelling Up – Reimagining Town Centres
From our market towns to our major cities, the North is home to a diverse range of town centres with a wide variety of assets and opportunities. But changing retail habits and the impact of Covid-19 pose challenges.
The focus is now on how we can renew and reshape town centres to ensure they continue to have a relevant offer. We know that many NHC members are considering the role housing might play in creating vibrant centres where people want to live, work, relax and shop. The regeneration of our town centres will also be a key part of achieving the government’s ambitions on levelling up – with various funding streams coming forward to support transformation and deliver a visible difference.
At the NHC we want to facilitate a conversation on the role housing can play in this agenda, and with this in mind, we’re creating a series of member-only seminars and roundtables which will run throughout 2021, as an exclusive member benefit. Themes we’ll explore include:
- The role of the High Streets Task Force
- How the government’s commitment to ‘levelling up’ aims to help revitalise town centres
- Funding streams – how housing relates to the priorities of economic growth, labour market connectivity, and area renewal
- Business case development, with a focus on land value uplift and development viability
- The role of planning and design to meet local need and aspirations
- Links between town centre regeneration and improved health and wellbeing outcomes, to help build back fairer
- Ensuring residents have a voice in future plans
- Good practice case studies from across the North and the UK more widely
Sessions will be suitable for our housing association, ALMO and local authority members.
We’ll be announcing session dates over the coming weeks, and if you’d like to be notified when a new session becomes available, please email us at events@northern-consortium.org.uk
There is no charge for NHC members to join sessions in the town centres series.
Chief Executive’s response to Further Education Skills for Jobs White Paper
Click the link below to read a copy of the letter sent from Northern Housing Consortium Chief Executive Tracy Harrison to Gillian Keegan MP in response to the Further Education Skills for Jobs White Paper:
The letter draws attention to a report published in late 2020 by IPPR North called Northern Powerhomes: A green recovery plan to decarbonise homes in the North which highlights how decarbonisation could act as a much-needed economic stimulus.
Influential Select Committee Energy Efficiency report reflects NHC evidence
An influential Conservative-led House of Commons Select Committee has recommended urgent action to improve energy efficiency of homes, citing written and oral evidence provided by the NHC. The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has this week recommended rolling out the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Homes Upgrade Grants ‘without delay’ with funding front-loaded.
The NHC submitted written evidence to the Committee last July, and our Senior Policy Advisor Karen Brown appeared before the Committee to provide oral evidence in November. Our key messages to the Committee were that home energy efficiency could play an important role in the North’s economic recovery from Covid-19, and that bringing forward the £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund would enable councils and housing associations to retrofit homes at scale and speed.
Commenting on the publication of the report, Committee Chair Rt. Hon Philip Dunne MP (Conservative) said:
“Making 19 million homes ready for net zero Britain by 2050 is an enormous challenge that the Government appears to have not yet grasped. In the next 29 years, the Government must improve energy efficiency upgrades and roll out low carbon heating measures: a material start must be made now.
“Government investment to improve energy efficiency has been woefully inadequate. The £9 billion that the Government pledged at the election was welcome, but 16 months on, there appears to be no plan nor meaningful delivery.”
The cross-party Committee references evidence from the NHC eight times in its final report. It notes that ‘the Northern Housing Consortium said expenditure of the promised £3.8bn [Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund] should be brought forwards so that councils and housing associations can retrofit homes at scale and speed.’.
The report goes on to say:
“We welcome the Social Housing Decarbonisation fund and support its aims to retrofit social housing at scale. However, to date only a fraction of the funding has been made available for demonstrator projects that may well not deliver the efficiencies that larger schemes could achieve.
The Government should bring forward the allocation of the £3.8bn of funding pledged before the 2019 general election. This would deliver cost savings at scale. This funding should be frontloaded to reap the benefits of cumulative emissions savings towards net zero. The Government should also allow housing associations to lead bids, so as to ensure that the available funding is used quickly and effectively.”
This is the second report from the Enivronmental Audit Committee in 2021 to cite the NHC’s evidence, following our written submission to the same Committee’s Inquiry on Greening the post-Covid Recovery. Commenting, NHC Chief Executive Tracy Harrison said:
“I really welcome the Committee’s recommendations, particularly that they have added their voice to calls for the £3.8bn social housing decarbonisation fund to be brought forward and front-loaded – this chimes with the messages the NHC is delivering to Government on behalf of the North’s housing sector. This is another great example of how the NHC is making the voice of housing in the North heard in Westminster and Whitehall.”
Government is obliged to respond to Select Committee Reports and Recommendations within 60 days of their publication.
For more information on our work with this Select Committee, contact Karen Brown – karen.brown@northern-consortium.org.uk
Regional climate coalitions gather pace
Regional climate coalitions in Yorkshire & Humber and the North East have gathered pace this month. The North’s housing sector is playing an important role in both coalitions.
On 17th March, the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Comission held a well-attended launch event, which is available to watch again on YouTube. The Commission is an independent advisory body set up to bring actors from the public, private and third sectors together to support and guide ambitious climate actions across the region. It is part of the Place-Based Climate Action Network.
Martyn Broadest, Executive Director at NHC member Connect Housing Association, is one of the Commissioners, joining commissioners from across the public, private and voluntary sectors. The opportunities around housing retrofit were raised several times at the launch event, including by Sheffield City-Region Mayor Dan Jarvis. You can read Martyn’s blog about the first meeting of the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission on the Connect Housing website.
In the North East, the NHC is facilitating the housing retrofit workstream of the North East England Climate Coalition. NEECCo is a cross-sector initiative bringing the region together to tackle climate emergency, reverse ecological collapse and deliver and urgent and just transition – with the aim of the North East becoming England’s Greenest Region. It has the support of LEPs, Universities, the Chamber of Commerce, voluntary sector and leading businesses in the region.
The housing retrofit workstream has met three times and is overseen by a high-level group chaired by NHC Chair Paul Fiddaman. The group have agreed a Statement of Intent aiming to ensure all the region’s homes reach EPC C by 2030. Work is now underway to implement the group’s emerging Delivery Plan. A parallel group led by Constructing Excellence North East is looking at new-build development of all types and close links are being formed between the two workstreams.
NEECCo will launch officially in the coming weeks, and NHC members in the North East can expect to hear lots more about the Coalition in the run-up to the COP Summit in Glasgow later this year. For information on the NEECCo retrofit work being supported by the NHC, contact Anna Seddon – anna.seddon@northern-consortium.org.uk
NHC meet the minister
As part of our efforts to influence housing decarbonisation plans, NHC Chair Paul Fiddaman and CEO Tracy Harrison met with Climate Change Minister Lord Callanan earlier this month. A former MEP and local councillor in Tyne and Wear, Lord Callanan is now a minister at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The meeting was arranged to discuss the green home upgrade plans the NHC has worked with IPPR North to develop. The NHC emphasised the opportunity that exists for the North’s housing sector to deliver on two of Government’s top priorities: levelling-up and net zero, with potential for 77,000 jobs across the North by 2035. Lord Callanan was joined by senior officials leading the development of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. The meeting also covered skills and the resources the social housing sector can bring to bear with the right support from Government.
Commenting, NHC Chief Executive Tracy Harrison said, “The Minister clearly understood our case and we were pleased to further build on our dialogue with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. It is clear that much will rest on the multi-year Spending Review expected later this year. We will continue to make the case for a front-loaded social housing decarbonisation fund that would enable the North to deliver at scale and pace.”
To discuss the Northern Powerhomes report, or our engagement on levelling-up and net zero, please contact Brian Robson (Executive Director – Policy & Public Affairs) brian.robson@northern-consortium.org.uk
Mediaworks scoops Third Sector website gong for transformational Home Group project
Future facing digital marketing agency, Mediaworks is celebrating after its work for one of the UKs biggest housing groups was named as one of the best new websites.
The prestigious UK Dev Awards 2021 has named Home Group’s new website as the best Third Sector website in the last 12 months. Mediaworks developed a site that aimed to digitally transform the volume of physical calls into Home Group’s contact centre, driving enquiries online and enabling the group to prioritise its most vulnerable and most urgent queries. Home Group is one of the UK’s largest social housing and care providers.
The resulting digital approach saw an incredible 486% year on year uplift in Home Group’s customer interaction with its online repairs section, an 82% increase in customer satisfaction feedback on the usefulness of its site and, crucially, more than a third of its customers switch from call centre contact to online contact with the launch of the new site.
Brett Jacobson, CEO and founder at Mediaworks said: “I’m thrilled for the full team, both at Mediaworks and at Home Group, who drove this transformational digital project. It was an extensive and detailed piece of work that underlines our dedication to delivering great work in true partnership.
“Knowing the new site has driven real behavioural change for Home Group’s customers shows that our focus on delivering data-driven, innovative solutions that create measurably successful performance for our own clients is the right one.”
Jo Hamilton, Head of Digital at Home Group said: “Our new website has become so much more than a shop window. This has helped our colleagues across the UK to engage with us in a quicker manner which, in turn, enables us to get to the root of their issues far more efficiently.
“For us, that was the most rewarding part of this project in partnership with Mediaworks, but this award win gives everyone a sense of pride that its approach has been recognised as truly transformational within the Third Sector.”
“Mediaworks is a fantastic partner to consult with. Their breadth of expertise and design with a data-led approach allowed us to better guide our customers towards self-serve methods. “This was a strategically-significant investment for Home Group. The project set out to relaunch our online experience to encourage our stakeholders to adopt our digital channels and prioritise high-volume enquiries so they could easily be found through online search and answered through an intuitive experience.”
Summarising the entry, judges from the UK Dev Awards said: “We were really impressed with the website solution. The whole process was extremely valuable, from user research to business objectives, and shows a clear connection between user experience and tech.”
Mediaworks now delivers a range of digital services, including a full complement of performance marketing services, brand strategy, and digital transformation across four UK sites. In the last 12 months, Mediaworks has picked up national and international digital marketing briefs from the likes of Johnnie Johnson, Believe Housing and St Modwens in addition to household name such as Cath Kidston, Dune London, Johnson & Johnson, Miele and LADbible Group.
NHC’s Brief Guide to the Levelling Up Fund
The Levelling Up Fund prospectus was published with the Budget on 3 March. It will invest £4.8 billion in high value local infrastructure.
Here are the 10 key things you need to know about the Fund:
- UK-wide -The Fund is UK-wide but intended for places that need it the most such as ex-industrial areas, deprived towns and coastal communities.
- Places’ Categorisation – places have been categorised as 1, 2, or 3, with category 1 representing places with the highest levels of identified need.
- Cross-department – The Fund brings together the Department for Transport, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Treasury and each phase of funding will priorities a range of projects across departments.
- Treasury Green Book Review – Project appraisal will incorporate the revised approach of the Green Book announced at Budget 2020 to “make sure that government investment spreads opportunity across the UK.” The revised Green Book contains new guidance on place-based analysis.
- Shovel-ready – The first round of the Fund closes for bids in June and will prioritise bids that can demonstrate investment or begin delivery on the ground in the 2021-22 financial year. All funding provided from the Fund to be spent by 31 March 2024, and, exceptionally, into 2024-25 for larger schemes. There will be future opportunities to bid in subsequent rounds.
- Competitive Bidding – The Levelling Up Fund is a competitive fund and bids will be prioritised that can demonstrate investment or begin delivery on the ground in the coming financial year. The 2020 Spending Review allocated up to £600 million in 2021-22.
- Local Authority role – Funding will be delivered through local authorities and every local authority can submit at least one bid for projects that require up to £20m of funding.
- Capacity funding – A flat £125,000 of capacity funding will be allocated to all eligible local authorities – defined in the prospectus as those most in need of levelling up as identified in the place index – to support bids for later rounds of the Fund. Local authorities will not be able to use the capacity funding in time to support bids for the first round.
- Members of Parliament – Local MPs will back one bid that they see as a priority – local authorities can submit one bid for every MP whose constituency lies wholly within their boundary. The prospectus states that such support from local MPs is not a necessary condition for a successful bid, however, it is clear from the prospectus that this will be an important factor.
- Prioritisation of Places – the Government published the methodology note on 11th March confirming that low productivity and long commutes to work were prioritised, rather than wider measures of deprivation such as those used for the Index of Multiple Deprivation.
You can read a more in depth breakdown in our full and free report at THIS LINK. Follow @NHC to keep up to date with the leading issues in the housing sector.
