Property Development News:-Woking is to receive £95m and Truro £47m to build roads, widen bridges and connect utilities for new developments.
The investment in Woking, Surrey, will pay for widening Victoria Arch Bridge, road improvements and connecting utilities so up to 4,500 homes can be built.
Surrey county council is delivering the project which is set to reduce congestion as well as opening up land for housing.
Truro will get an extra 4,000 homes as a result of the £47m investment in new road links. The money go towards a new northern access road, connecting sites from the A390 in the west to the Royal Cornwall Hospital and the employment hub in the east.
Housing minister, Kit Malthouse, said the government was “turning around” the failure of previous administrations to build enough new homes.
“We are driving to create homes, opportunities and thriving communities – and this £142m investment will mean we can build more of the properties our country so badly needs.
“We need to keep upping our game and build more, better, faster, if we are to meet our ambition to deliver 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s.”
The funding comes from the government’s £5.5bn housing infrastructure fund so land can be made ready for development. Money is allocated to authorities after a competitive funding allocation process.
Ipswich finally gets its luxury riverside flats
Earlier this week Ipswich Wharf Developments announced it had secured a £15m loan from Homes England for its £30m ‘Winerack’ development to build 150 flats in the town.
The scheme will also offer 5,000 sq ft of commercial space along Ipswich’s waterfront and a high-tech car stacker parking system.
Ipswich Wharf Developments invested £10m in the scheme which had been left semi-completed following 2008’s financial crash. New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership also lent £5m to the project under its ‘growing places fund’. The first phase of the flats was completed this week with the overall project due to finish by 2020. Prices range from £325,000 up to £475,000 for one of the penthouse apartments.
Homes England chief investment officer Gordon More said: “This development is a really important example of how the government is prepared to intervene to unblock stalled developments and help people and businesses to thrive.”
Brokers Hank Zarihs Associates said the new developments were in good positions to attract additional finance from property development lenders.
