Labour reveals £68m for 5,000 homes on brownfield sites
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the Government is "on the side of builders" as it pledges cash for council to develop disused city sites.
Empty buildings, old car parks and industrial land will be cleared and used to build new homes under a £68 million government initiative.
Brownfield sites will be earmarked for development “to get the country building again”, ministers say.
Neglected land
The cash investment, announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer (main picture), will go directly to 54 councils to turn neglected land into 5,200 homes.
With the funding, delivered through the Brownfield Land Release Fund, councils will be able to cover the cost of decontamination, clearing disused buildings or improving infrastructure such as internet, water and power supplies.
Within weeks of winning power in July, Labour increased its housing target for new homes to 1.85 million homes in five years.
MPs were told the Government planned to oversee building of 370,000 homes every year, up 70,000 from the figure the party promised in the General Election.
I said this government is on the side of the builders, not the blockers. And I meant it.”
Now, Starmer says: “I said this government is on the side of the builders, not the blockers. And I meant it.
“This funding for councils will see disused sites and industrial wastelands transformed into thousands of new homes in places that people want to live and work,” he says.
Ramp up provision

Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark, says: “It’s positive to see the UK Government recognise the importance of taking a ‘brownfield first approach’ as they ramp up provision regarding their pledge of over 1.5 million new homes throughout the course of this parliamentary term.
“With an ever-growing population, there must be consideration towards bringing prime vacant sites back into circulation before ever dipping into using greenbelt land as a remedy”.
It was also announced that tens of thousands of new homes would be built funded by over £550 million worth of ‘impact investments’.