The investment is part of the second phase of the £180m brownfield land release fund, with cash going directly to councils so they can release the land and get building as soon as possible.

Derelict car parks, industrial sites and town centre buildings that have fallen into disrepair will all benefit from the new funding, with the government supporting communities to bring land back into use.

•   Differing definitions of net zero could be stalling planet-positive construction with greenwashing, claims developer
•   Hilltop launches real estate funding and management platform
•   Developer fined almost £14,500 for breaching bat licence conditions

Projects that will benefit from the scheme include: 

• Newcastle — £1.82m to release a complex site to build 146 BTR homes 
• Hull — £980,000 to deliver 99 new homes for affordable rent on the site of a derelict school
• Sunderland — £1.8m to turn a former riverside industrial site into 140 low-carbon BTR homes

The next round of funding through the second phase of the brownfield land release fund will be announced later this year. 

To date, the fund has been supporting at least 89 local authorities, over 160 projects, and providing almost £100m to support councils to release land for almost 8,600 homes.

Rachel Maclean, minister for housing and planning, commented: “We know we need to build more homes, but this cannot come at the expense of concreting over our precious countryside. 

“That is why we are doing all we can to make sure we’re making use of wasteland and unused brownfield land, so we can turn these eyesores into beautiful and thriving communities.”