Government allocates further £15m of funding to garden communities

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Long Marston, Halsnead Garden Village and West Carclaze Garden Village to get a slice of the garden city cash

Garden towns

The government has now committed £69m to the garden city programme

The Government has allocated an extra £15m of funding to garden cities in England to build thousands of new homes, bringing the investment in the programme up to £69m.

Long Marston in Warwickshire, Halsnead Garden Village in Knowsley and West Carclaze Garden in Cornwall are among those that will benefit from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities garden communities cash. The full list of garden towns and villages, which are new communities that deliver homes but also include a high level of green space, that will benefit from the £15m are listed below

Housing minister Stuart Andrew said: “Garden villages and towns are perfect examples of the vibrant, green communities we want to see right across the country and today’s funding will allow us to work hand-in-hand with local leaders and industry to deliver the high-quality new homes that we need.

“Today’s investment brings total funding for the garden communities programme to more than £69m, helping level up the country and regenerate communities, with most of the new homes situated in the North, Midlands and South West.”

Details of the three schemes mentioned above that will get a slice of the £15m include:

Long Marston - formerly a disused airfield will see 3,500 new homes being built, with a requirement for 35% affordable housing.
Halsnead Garden Village - will deliver 1,619 new homes in Merseyside along with 22.5 hectares of land for new businesses. A country park will accompany wetlands and restored wildflower meadows.
West Carclaze Garden Village - will support the delivery of up to 1,500 new homes, in a sustainable new community aimed at promoting the health and wellbeing of its residents.

Funding is intended to help councils recruit specialist staff to plan for the community garden projects, and receive advice and support from Homes England. The garden communities programme is aimed at supporting long-term housing projects at an early stage.

The government said the announcement on the extra funding “builds on plans in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill”, which was announced on 10 May the Queen’s Speech. The bill aims at boosting housing delivering, including by simplifying and standardising the process for local plans.

Peter Freeman, chair of Homes England, said: “Working collaboratively and supporting locally-led ambitions to deliver well-designed and great quality new places and communities in the right places is central to our mission.”

The whole £69m garden cities programme is expected to deliver 16,000 homes per year from 2025, and create nearly 200,000 jobs.

The government gave £6m to councils in 2020 to help them work up plans for 21 new garden towns and villages.