Council receives £685,275 from government to build housing on brownfield sites

Thanet District Council has been allocated £685,275 of government funding through the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) Brownfield Land Release Fund.

This funding will support phase four of the council’s programme to build new social housing. A total of 49 new homes will be built on brownfield sites. They will form part of the council’s social housing stock, and will be rented out to households on the housing register. 

Locations have been identified at Tomlin Drive, Dane Valley Road and the former Dane Valley Arms site in Margate, and Staner Court and Clements Road in Ramsgate. All of these are brownfield sites, which means that the land has been previously developed. They are all owned by the council, and currently have either disused garages or laundry drying areas on them.

Cllr Helen Whitehead, Cabinet Member for Housing with at Thanet District Council, said: “As a council we will always prioritise brownfield development, and we take active measures to do so, including the excellent work that went into applying for this fund by council officers. 

“Residents need social and genuinely affordable housing, and we will prioritise this need to support all of our community. We are dedicated to providing genuinely affordable homes for local people, with over a hundred homes due to be acquired or delivered before the end of this year. This funding will enable us to directly build a significant number of new properties, which will make a huge difference to residents and to Thanet.”

The developments are all subject to planning permission. Applications have been submitted to the council’s Planning department. It is expected that work will commence in spring 2024, and be completed by spring 2026. 

Nearly 100 regeneration projects across England will receive a share of £60 million funding as part of the second phase of the government’s £180 million Brownfield Land Release Fund. The funding will support the building of more than 6,000 homes, with funding awarded directly to councils so they can release the land.

You can find out more about the Brownfield Land Release Fund on the government’s website.