City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram unveils his register of 400 brownfield development sites and Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson talks about the city’s ‘ethical housing company’. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram is urging housebuilders to take a “brownfield first” approach as he published a register of more than 400 brownfield sites across Merseyside.
At a summit on Friday at Liverpool’s Merseyside Maritime Museum, Mr Rotheram said he wanted the city region to be an “exemplar for innovation, sustainability and design excellence”.
How to address Britain’s chronic shortage of affordable homes has vexed Governments and local authorities across the country. The new brownfield register lists the sites that are ready for development.
Mr Rotheram said: “Housing is a vitally important issue for the Liverpool city region, which is why I made a number of manifesto commitments on the issue, including holding this summit.
“Devolution means that by working with our local authorities we can develop a housing strategy that is right for the needs of the people of the region in the 21st century and which will also contribute to my main priority of boosting economic development in a way that benefits all of our communities.”
Other speakers at the event included David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation and Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson, housing portfolio holder for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
Mr Anderson added: “I have long said that the city’s housing market needs a fundamental rethink and that is why last month the city council set up a new ethical housing company, called Foundations, which over the next decade will create 10,000 affordable new homes and inject more than half a billion pounds into the city’s economy.
“This company will breathe new life into communities, will revolutionise the city’s rent to buy sector, and generate thousands of new construction jobs in the process.”