A guide on how investors and developers can secure a share of funding to help unlock land for homes and jobs will be launched by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) on 18 September
‘Building the Future – a guide to the combined authority’s Single Commissioning Framework’ sets out what investors and developers can do to win funding earmarked by the WMCA to kick-start stalled developments across the region.
The guide is aimed at making the process for securing finance clearer and easier with the WMCA working with investors and developers to find ways for the schemes to support the authority’s key economic and social goals.
These include tackling youth and long-term unemployment, securing affordable housing, maximising public transport connectivity and supporting advanced methods of construction.
The document will be officially launched by Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street at the Forum for Growth conference at Resorts World in Birmingham.
The Forum will see leading figures from the private and public sectors come together to debate the key issues that can drive the regional economy forward. One of those issues is the on-going work to breathe new life into hundreds of acres of derelict industrial land – often called brownfield – helping to relieve pressure on the Green Belt.
Andy Street said: “The Forum for Growth is the ideal platform from which to launch this important document, which will be a positive step forward for construction across the West Midlands.
“The funding we have set aside to help developers get schemes off the ground is already creating hundreds of new jobs and homes – and this guide is aimed at making the funding process as quick and as easy as possible for those developers who share our vision of growing our economy in a way that benefits all our communities.
“Not only will we be benefitting local people with local schemes, but the quicker we can build quality new homes and commercial premises then the more likely we are to see the West Midlands economy continue to grow faster than anywhere outside of London.”
The WMCA has introduced a brownfield first policy where new developments are built on brownfield land wherever possible, helping to relieve pressure on the green belt.
