The West Midlands Combined Authority’s (WMCA) pioneering brownfield regeneration programme has secured another £28 million from government to transform even more derelict industrial land into new homes, jobs and facilities for local people.

The new money has been announced as part of the government’s forthcoming Levelling Up White Paper and is aimed at breathing fresh life into brownfield land.

The funding comes on top of more than £500 million secured to date by the WMCA to build thousands of new homes in the region.

Hundreds more homes and jobs will be created on former industrial sites with the £28 million secured by the WMCA through the government's Levelling Up plans

The £28 million represents a considerable slice of the £120 million the government is allocating to the country’s seven Mayoral Combined Authorities to deliver 7,800 homes on disused brownfield land in the Midlands and North of the country.

The money will now be added to the WMCA’s existing half-a-billion-pound funding pot. This is already driving a nationally leading brownfield programme, delivering thousands of new homes and jobs on former industrial land while helping to relieve pressure on the green belt.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA, said: “Yet again government has recognised our success in transforming former industrial sites by allocating us a lion’s share of this new money.

“We will waste no time in putting it to good use, accelerating our trailblazing brownfield regeneration programme to provide local people with affordable homes and job opportunities.

“This new money will help us fund those projects that support our local levelling up ambitions in communities right across the region.”

The WMCA’s brownfield regeneration programme has already helped unlock many of the region’s most challenging sites, some of which had remained vacant and stalled for decades.

The sites are being used for a diverse range of housing and regeneration projects including the restoration and conversion of unique heritage buildings into new homes in town centres, mixed use developments around key transport hubs and major brownfield housing projects.  

Cllr Mike Bird, WMCA portfolio holder for housing and land and leader of Walsall Council, added: “This fresh injection of money is another huge vote of confidence in the capability, ambitions and strength of the WMCA’s brownfield regeneration programme. 

“By using government cash to clean-up derelict industrial land we’ve helped create thousands of new homes and jobs while at the same time establishing ourselves as a trusted partner for investors and nationally leading developers looking to come onboard and deliver high-quality housing.” 

The Levelling Up White Paper announcement is the latest in a series of funding awards, including the £350 million Housing Deal for the West Midlands, for the WMCA’s housing delivery programme which has a strong track record on delivering affordable, quality homes at scale and pace.

The WMCA’s ‘brownfield first’ approach to new developments is also part of the region’s ambitious target to build the 215,000 new homes the West Midlands will need by 2031. 

At least 20% of the new homes in developments supported by WMCA funding must be classed as affordable under the combined authority’s own definition of affordability which is linked to real-world local wages rather than property prices. 

The forthcoming White Paper also names Wolverhampton and Sheffield as the first of 20 places nationwide that will be supported by government through a £1.5bn Brownfield Fund aimed at delivering ambitious regeneration projects that will boost local communities and create attractive, new urban areas.