Disused railway land to be redeveloped to build 40,000 new homes

The UK government says first-time buyers are set to benefit as it pledges to build up to 40,000 new homes on disused railway land, including former goods yards, industrial sites and station buildings, over the next ten years.

The £1bn development plans will start with previously identified projects in Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Cambridge.

The government said it was part of its “brownfield first” approach and would create “vibrant” new communities.

However, the interim target of 15,000 in the first five years, is a small fraction of the total 1.5 million new homes the government has promised by the end of this parliament, plans that are already facing big hurdles.

The government aims to attract £350m in private sector investment to help develop vacant industrial sites across the country, to create shops, green spaces and hotels as well as flats and houses.

It is part of its bigger promise to tackle housing shortages across the country.

However, those plans face a huge range of obstacles, including strains on local infrastructure such as water, sewage, schools and healthcare, and a lack of capacity in the construction industry to build the new homes

Industry groups say there are already backlogs, with hundreds of homebuilding projects held up by regulatory obstacles.

A new development company, called Platform4, is being created, by rolling together two existing bodies: London and Continental Railways and Network Rail’s Property Development Team.

Both currently have responsibility for managing disused railway land, but the Department for Transport said that this “fragmented approach” had led to “inefficiencies, duplicated efforts and missed opportunities”.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the new developments would support jobs and drive growth as well as providing much needed homes.

“It’s exciting to picture the thousands of families who will live in these future homes, the vibrant neighbourhoods springing up, and the new businesses that will launch thanks to these developments,” she said.

Bek Seeley, the chair of London and Continental Railways, has been appointed as chair of Platform4.

However, the industry group the National Federation of Builders (NFB) said planning delays were blocking progress on existing building projects on a scale equal to the government’s new plans.

According to the NFB at least 40,000 new homes are being held up by regulators, including 700 projects waiting for the go-ahead from the Building Safety Regulator, which was set up in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire to oversee higher-risk buildings.

The NFB also said planning delays were also causing small businesses to leave the construction industry, with a knock-on effect on training and apprenticeships.

Rico Wojtulewicz, the NFB’s head of policy and market insight said building houses near to railway lines was a “winning blueprint” because stations “already connect up local and regional communities”.

But he said elsewhere government policy was adding to building costs “on at least ten fronts”.

The Building Safety Regulator said many applications had “taken longer than anticipated to process” and that said it was rejecting around 70% of applications because they did not meet legal requirements.