WMCA unlocks brownfield site for housing

(From left to right) Rob Braid, CEO of St Francis Group; Steve Holland, senior specialist, Homes England; Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street; Ninder Johal from the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership; and Cllr Adrian Andrew, cabinet member for regeneration, Walsall Council, view the site at Goscote Lane.

More than 250 new homes will be built in Walsall after the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) stepped in to unlock disused land for development.

The WMCA has awarded £3.6M to property developer St Francis Group to “remediate” brownfield land on Goscote Lane, which will see the company create 263 new homes on the 17.1hectare site.

The development forms part of the Goscote Lane Corridor scheme – which will see 700 homes built in the area as part of Walsall’s biggest residential regeneration project.

The funding awarded to St Francis Group comes from the Black Country’s £53M land remediation fund, part of £200M secured by the WMCA for housing and land in the first devolution deal which transferred powers from central Government to the Combined Authority.

Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, said: “The West Midlands is cementing its reputation as a great place to live and work, with record economic growth and job creation and an increasing international profile.

“Our Strategic Economic Plan set out how that growth would affect our population in real terms: we expect 400,000 more people will be living in the region over the next decade, and we need to build 215,000 homes by 2031 to provide comfortable, quality houses for our communities.

“We’ve committed to ensuring 80% of those homes are built on brownfield land – but many brownfield sites need to be cleaned up before houses can be built on them. I’m delighted we’ve been able to contribute to the important Goscote Lane regeneration scheme in Walsall by funding clean-up work to unlock land for an extra 263 quality homes.”

The collaborative approach to unlock land at the Goscote Lane Corridor has involved Walsall Council, the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership and Homes England, alongside the WMCA and the City of Wolverhampton Council, which will act as the accountable body to ensure the funding is used and accounted for appropriately.

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