Housing

Policies relating to the Growth Points initiative

Introduction

The Government's vision for towns and cities is of prosperous and cohesive communities offering a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for all. A vital ingredient for sustainable communities is an adequate supply of good quality housing offering a choice of types and tenures, including affordable housing for key workers and those in lower income groups. 

Kate Barker's 2004 report highlighted the shortfall between housing supply and current and future demand, particularly in Southern England. The Government's response, announced in December 2005, included commitments relating to increasing housing supply, affordable housing for ownership and rent and planning reforms. A key element was to invite expressions of interest from local partners to put forward proposals for sustainable growth, which could form the basis of a long term partnership with Government.

Applications were invited from authorities proposing an average rate of new housebuilding at least 20 per cent higher than set in plans in October 2003, and delivering at least 500 new houses per year. This initiative has brought a very positive response, and the Government was pleased to announce 29 places to be supported as Growth Points, and to share in an initial £40m fund for infrastructure projects and essential studies to support sustainable growth. 

Following the success of the first round of Growth Points, a second round of the initiative was announced in the Housing Green Paper on 23 July 2007 which, for the first time, allowed areas in northern England to bid for Growth Point Status. 20 second round Growth Points were announced on 16 July 2008 which collectively have the potential to deliver up to 75,000 homes.

Partnership

By supporting these areas as Growth Points, the Government is entering into a long-term partnership, subject to the statutory regional and local planning process. The terms of the partnership are set out in a Written Ministerial Statement made to Parliament by Yvette Cooper on 24 October 2006.

Planning and conditions

A Growth Point is not a statutory designation. Regional Spatial Strategies set out strategic policies and proposals that shape the distribution of regionally or sub-regionally significant activities and development including, amongst other things, the scale and distribution of new housing. Local Development Frameworks set the local policy context and allocate specific sites for development. Growth Point proposals will be subject to robust testing and public consultation through these regional and local planning processes.

The consultation process conducted with other Government Departments and Agencies (including the Environment Agency, Highways Agency and Natural England) over the Summer, examining Growth Point bids, has both enhanced the evidence base to inform the planning process and identified issues that will need to be addressed as growth proposals progress. These include requirements for certain studies and assessments to be carried out and their results used to inform decisions including the locations, amounts and phasing of different types of development. These requirements are explicit partnership conditions to underline their importance in shaping sustainable outcomes.

Funding

Alongside bids for Growth Point status, local partners were invited to bid for initial funding for infrastructure projects to unlock sites for new housing and improve the environment. Not all authorities have bid in this funding round and further applications will be invited for future years subject to the level of resources available. Limited revenue support is also available to contribute towards essential studies and assessments, masterplanning and building up delivery capacity.

Initial funding totalling around £40m was announced for 2007-08. Allocations to Growth Points, as shown in the pages for each location, were subject to detailed negotiation and appraisal of projects, and in some cases the allocations were maxima up to which authorities were invited to bid for specific support.

Funding in 2007-08 was on a project basis. For the second round Growth Points funding will be unrignfenced block funding - ie aside from reflecting the split between capital and revenue expenditure, there will be no grant conditions about how or when these funds are spent.

Both first and second round Growth Points, alongside Growth Areas, will be funded from the £1.7billion Communities and Local Government will invest across the Growth Areas, Thames Gateway, Growth Points and Eco-towns during the CSR07 period. 

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