£4.7m windfall for new Birmingham homes
Birmingham City Council is to provide 234 new family homes across the city, after securing £4.7m from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). The houses will be built in Sheldon, Bartley Green, Handsworth, Longbridge and Tyburn.
The council had already pledged to donate its own land, worth £8m, to deliver the new homes across seven sites in Birmingham.
The HCA funding was secured through the Public Land Programme. The agency has now confirmed its support of up to £4.7m in investment to deliver the plans from the £53m national funding pot.
Construction work is set to commence in late 2010, and all 234 homes are expected to be completed and ready for occupation by spring 2012. The council said many of the homes will have four and five bedrooms.
Around two-thirds of the homes will be for outright sale with the remaining 83 homes being provided for Birmingham City Council.
Councillor John Lines, cabinet member for housing, said: “This scheme is another way that we have supported the private sector to start building again, and we have not borrowed a penny to do it.
“I’m pleased we’ve secured the funding so we can get back to building more homes for our people. This announcement proves that once again the government trusts us to get the job done.”
