Homes England invests £61m in Cambridgeshire new town

Homes England has agreed to put £61m into the development of a 6,500-home new community by Urban & Civic at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire.

The government’s housing agency will use the money, from the £4.5bn Home Building Fund, to pay for key infrastructure including roads, roundabouts, drainage and utility works which will enable the scheme to go ahead.

The money will come in the form of a loan, which Urban & Civic said will accelerate delivery of the site. It said the first £15m of the finance had already allowed contracts with subcontractors to be let.

Urban & Civic is master developer at the 716-acre former World War 2 airfield on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, which is the landowner. The scheme has outline planning permission, with the first 1,600-home phase currently progressing through the planning system.

Housing minister Christopher Pincher MP said the investment was part of the government’s plan to reopen the housing industry after the covid crisis. He said: “This £61 million investment from Homes England, the Government’s housing accelerator, will deliver the building blocks of a community that people will be proud to call home, including a new primary school, health centre and community centre.”

Neil Milligan, head of infrastructure finance at Homes England said: “Covid-19 has presented the industry with many challenges, and it’s great that despite these setbacks we can continue to secure agreements with our partners that build on our pipeline of investing in quality homes and communities and support the wider industry in its recovery.

Nigel Hugill, chief executive of Urban & Civic said the scheme was the largest to start since the onset of the pandemic, and that his firm would not be able to attempt the same pace and ambition of development without Homes England’s long-term loan support.