The funding, from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and announced in the government’s Levelling Up white paper, takes the total available for brownfield development in the Liverpool City Region to £60 million, which will enable around 4500 homes to be built.

The Combined Authority has already identified 21 brownfield sites where around 3500 new homes will be built.

Speaking about the funding, Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:

“New homes are an investment in all our futures – they give families the opportunity to realise their home ownership ambitions; attract new funding into our towns, and help us to retain the very best talent that fuels our economy.

“We know that our journey to building a strong, prosperous community starts at home, which is why we are helping thousands of families across the Liverpool City Region to invest in good quality, genuinely affordable, and accessible houses.

“By specifically targeting brownfield sites, we can help to turn once-forgotten areas back into thriving communities – and help to protect more of our green spaces.

“We’ve already made great strides to achieve this ambition, having committed £45 million to build around 3,500 new homes across the city region, and we’ll be using this additional funding to build a thousand more.”

In planning terms, any land that has been previously developed is classed as brownfield. In the Liverpool City Region, much of this land is derelict and formerly industrial so must be cleaned up before it can be developed.

The Combined Authority investment will be used for site remediation and other measures required to make sites ready for development.

The Combined Authority has worked with the six local authorities in the city region to develop a register of brownfield sites. The recently updated register shows that there are 428 brownfield sites in the region, with room for 28,000 houses. The number of sites has reduced over recent years as previously derelict brownfield sites have been developed.

Councillor Graham Morgan, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Spatial Framework, said:

“Building on brownfield sites is crucial to our ambitions to tackle the housing shortage by building a great choice of high-quality homes across the Liverpool City Region.  We have more than 400 sites in total with enough space for 28,000 homes.  We need to ensure that, across the city region, we are building high-quality homes to suit everyone.”