£41m for the WMCA

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has received a £41m payment as part of their housing deal agreed last year.

The WMCA said that the funding will help prepare hundreds of acres of brownfield land for new homes.

It will be used first to deliver the Cable Street/Steelhouse Lane development in Wolverhampton, with sites in Walsall, Willenhall, Coseley and Solihull to follow.

The money follows the 2018 Spring Statement, where the Government announced a £350m housing deal with the WMCA, including £100m of grant for land remediation, in exchange for a promise of 215,000 new homes over 12 years.

The WMCA claims to have overseen a 30% increase in housebuilding across the region, with 14,268 new homes delivered in its constituent council areas in 2017/18, up from 11,288 in 2014/15.

It said the majority of the new homes are being built on derelict industrial sites.

The WMCA sets minimum standards for affordable housing, design and energy efficiency for developers of sites it has remediated.