Villages planned for Lancaster, Knowsley, Cheshire and Cumbria
New garden villages, settlements of between 1,500 and 10,000 homes, are due to be built in four locations across the region with backing from a £6m Government fund.
The four North West locations form part of the first wave of 14 garden villages announced by the Government, totalling 48,000 homes.
The villages are an expansion of the existing garden towns programme, and will have access to a £6m fund over the next two financial years.
This money will be used to unlock the full capacity of sites, providing funding for additional resources and expertise to accelerate development and avoid delays.
The Government also announced today its support for three new garden towns in Aylesbury, Taunton and Harlow & Gilston.
Together with the seven garden towns already announced, the 17 settlements have the combined potential to provide almost 200,000 homes.
These developments are planned as “distinct new places” with their own facilities, rather than extensions to existing urban areas. The garden villages due to be built in the North West are:
- Halsnead in Knowsley, Merseyside
- Bailrigg in Lancaster
- St Cuthberts near Carlisle, Cumbria
- Handforth in Cheshire East
In addition to funding, the Government said it will provide support in terms of expertise, brokerage and offer of new planning freedoms.
Due to the high level of expressions of interest submitted in July 2016, the Government has made an additional £1m available this year for further development of other garden village proposals.
The Government may run a further call for expressions of interest later this year.
A garden town is a development of more than 10,000 homes. Garden villages are smaller settlements, of between 1,500 and 10,000 homes.
By 2020, more than 25,000 housing starts are planned for garden villages, towns and cities.
