Homes England partners with Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority

Homes England said that the SPP highlights its commitment to “locally led growth, investment and regeneration at a pivotal time for the region”. It added that this partnership will support the government’s plans to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.

The agreement establishes a shared ambition between the combined authority and Homes England to “deliver housing and infrastructure that meets the region’s needs and supports economic growth and environmental goals”, CPCA said. 

The combined authority added that the partnership will create a “pipeline of investment-ready” projects that will align with local priorities.

It cited the example of developing its local growth plan, which sets out how to accelerate the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough economy, and the outcomes of the region’s recently agreed ‘Shared Ambition’. This pipeline will also support bids for extra funding to drive delivery “further and faster”, it said.

The partnership with CPCA means Homes England has now signed seven SPPs with combined authorities across England.

These include Greater Manchester Combined Authority, West Midlands Combined Authority, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and North East Combined Authority.

Eamonn Boylan, chief executive of Homes England, said: “Through our strategic place partnership model, we work hand-in-hand with local leaders to help them accomplish their ambitious housing and regeneration aims.

“This SPP marks the agency’s commitment to working with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, to help realise the aspirations set out in the Shared Ambition for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 2050.

“We already have a strong track record of delivering transformative projects across the region and through this new partnership we will build on our existing relationships and achieve even more for the local community.”

Dr Nik Johnson, mayor of CPCA, said: “The combined authority is about building powerful partnerships locally and nationally, with an aligned vision to deliver for the region.

“We’re committing, with Homes England, to work smarter, together, to help accelerate the building of the new, good-quality, energy-efficient homes we need, in places that have the capacity for growth.”

Homes England said this SPP builds on an “established track record” of partnership work across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Cambridgeshire is home to Northstowe, a large new settlement. Once complete, the development for which Homes England is acting as master developer will feature 10,000 homes and a town centre.

Homes England highlighted that it has also committed “considerable funding” to accelerate the Waterbeach New Town development in Cambridgeshire, with the potential to deliver 11,000 homes.

This includes more than £23m to relocate a railway station to unlock 4,500 homes, in partnership with Waterbeach Development Company.

These plans are in addition to the existing £61m loan at the former Waterbeach Barracks and airfield site, led by Urban&Civic, with plans to deliver 6,500 homes on completion. 

The latest SPP is the first to be signed since the English Devolution White Paper was published in December.

The white paper set out that all mayoral strategic authorities will now have access to these SPPs, subject to a period of joint working on pipeline development and delivery planning.

In the paper, the government added that it wants “to go further”.

In the short term, it will increase Homes England’s accountability to established mayoral strategic authorities.

This will include giving established mayoral strategic authorities the ability to “steer and monitor” Homes England’s progress in delivering on objectives agreed through their SPP and set out in their wider plans. It will also give them the power to escalate any issues to ministers.

“We will work with these areas over the coming months to develop the detail of how this will operate,” the government said in the paper.

“Beyond this, the government has announced that Homes England will move to a more regional and place-based operating model to align its structures and ways of working to the government’s devolution agenda.

“Homes England will also work with foundation strategic authorities on a targeted basis to develop a shared development pipeline and joint action plan, using a continuous market engagement approach to identify the authorities with capacity for accelerating development.”

In the white paper, the government also said that as an interim step, established mayoral strategic authorities will be given the ability – through their SPPs with Homes England – to set the strategic direction of any future affordable housing programme in their area.

This includes shaping the tenure mix and identifying priority sites for housing development to be supported by grant.