More than 1,500 homes to be built on 15 brownfield sites including Liverpool FC’s former Melwood training ground thanks to a £23m remediation fund. Tony McDonough reports

Funding totalling £23m will be spent on the remediation of 15 sites across Liverpool to make them ready for the constriction of more than 1,500 new homes.

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has approved the cash from its £60m Brownfield Land Fund. This fund will enable the building of at least 4,000 homes across Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens and Halton.

Among the latest sites that have been approved for funding is the former Liverpool FC first team training complex at Melwood in West Derby. It was used by the club for 60 years but in 2020 it left for a new £50m facility at its academy in Kirkby.

Affordable housing provider Torus took charge of the site in 2020 and has plans to build 162 new homes in what is already a popular residential suburb. It has secured £2.43m from the brownfield pot.

Since the original Brownfield Land Fund was announced in July 2020, the CA has already agreed plans to invest £29m in 16 projects across Liverpool city region, which will deliver 2,445 homes.

In planning terms, any land that has been previously developed is classed as brownfield. In Liverpool city region, much of this land is derelict and formerly industrial so must be cleaned up before it can be redeveloped. The CA investment will be used for site remediation and other measures.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “We are specifically targeting brownfield sites to help protect our precious green spaces from over development – turning once-forgotten areas back into thriving communities.

“I want everyone in our area to have the chance to realise their home ownership ambitions – to get their foot on the property ladder and invest in their future.”

On Friday, the CA also announced it has led a North West-wide project to add energy efficient measures to more than 5,000 households at risk of fuel poverty. It has retrofitted 1,336 homes across the city region – boosting the original £11.3m allocation up to £15.3m.

The 15 sites that will receive funding from the Brownfield Land Fund are: