Gainsborough: Housing boost as town is chosen as housing zone

West Lindsey District Council is delighted that the town has been selected as one of 20 housing zones outside of London.

The news was revealed as part of the Governments budget announcement.

The idea is to make it quicker and easier to build new homes on brownfield land.

This is land that has previously been used for industrial purposes or some commercial uses.

A housing zone is an area of land where the government provides funding to unlock the scheme such as infrastructure, site acquisition and leaseholder buyouts.

The developer and local authority commit to provide a certain level of affordable and private housing and must meet these targets on deadline as a condition of the funding.

Penny Sharp, commercial director for the council, applied to become a housing zone to get some momentum behind plans to increase housing and regeneration opportunities in Gainsborough.

She said: “It is great news that Gainsborough has been chosen out of just 20 areas outside of London to be designated as a housing zone.”

“The intention is to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure to help unlock a number of brownfield sites within the town.”

“This will help to provide a wider mix of housing and better choice for buyers as well as helping to attract new people into the area.”

The council is looking at 15 sites in the area between Gainsborough, Lea and Morton, which will ultimately deliver more than 750 new homes over the coming years.

There will also be an opportunity for developers to bid for funding to support the delivery of new housing.

Mrs Sharp added: “As part of our commercial approach, this is an excellent example of how we are working in partnership with the government and the private sector to bring much needed investment in to the area.”

“We will be engaging with the development industry and work with stakeholders and statutory bodies to identify and remove obstacles to development.”

The council has also received funding to develop a local development order (which replaces planning permission by carrying out the planning work upfront) on one brownfield site.

It is also committed to looking for other innovative solutions to deliver other sites.

Four more housing zones have been confimed in the East Midlands including Bassetlaw, Derby and Gedling.