Brownfield Land Release Fund Opens Third and Final Round
One Public Estate (OPE) is a partnership between the Office of Government Property (OGP) in the Cabinet Office (CO), the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
Since 2017, OPE has partnered with DLUHC to deliver the Land Release Fund (LRF) and subsequent Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF), a programme that enables councils to bring forward their surplus land for new homes.
The BLRF is offering up to £180 million of capital grant funding to unlock and accelerate the release of these sites.
The aims of the Brownfield Land Release Fund are to:
- Release local authority owned land within three years of receiving the funding for housing development that otherwise would not come forward during that period
- Encourage the use of public assets to drive innovative delivery, where possible supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) / Low and Medium Volume Builders (LMVBs), creating new delivery models, supporting high-quality design and adopting modern methods of construction
- Demonstrate a return for Government investment into these small sites.
Up to £80 million will be available in 2024/25 through this third and final round.
There is no fixed lower or upper limit for each application. It is expected that the majority of applications to be under £2 million.
All local authorities across England are eligible to apply.
Applications must be coordinated via an OPE partnership.
The deadline for applications is 14 February 2024.
