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Some of the UK’s most rundown housing estates will be replaced with attractive and safe homes with a new fund for regeneration projects, it has been announced. Prime Minister David Cameron released details of what he called a comprehensive approach to estate regeneration with the creation of a new £140 million fund. He said that the government will work with 100 housing estates across the country to either radically transform them or, in the worst cases, knock them down and replace them with high quality new homes. ‘Within these so-called sink estates, behind front doors, families build warm and welcoming homes. But step outside in the worst estates and you’re confronted by brutal high rise towers and dark alleyways that are a gift to criminals,’ Cameron explained. Secretary of State Greg Clark said that there is a belief that the worst estates offer huge potential to be revived so that they become thriving communities and places which people want to live and work in. ‘That’s why we’re so determined to kick-start work which will benefit the lives of thousands of people by providing high quality homes,’ he added. To help tackle the problem the nationwide strategy will be supported by a new Estate Regeneration Advisory Panel, which will be chaired by Lord Heseltine, the former Deputy Prime Minister who has long championed the regeneration of Britain’s inner cities. The Panel will report in detail by this year’s Autumn Statement. The Prime Minister’s announcement comes ahead of a report from property advisor Savills which will show the approach to regeneration could help catalyse the building of hundreds of thousands of new homes in London alone. ‘For decades, sink estates had been seen as something simply to be managed. It’s time to be more ambitious at every level. The mission here is nothing short of social turnaround, and with massive estate regeneration, tenants protected, and land unlocked for new housing all over Britain, I believe we can tear down anything that stands in our way,’ Cameron added. Yolande Barnes, Savills research director, explained that the research shows that housing estates can deliver more homes and be made into better neighbourhoods by re-integrating them into the wider street network and creating or repairing the streetscape. The British Property Federation (BPF) welcomed proposals and praised the Government for ensuring that binding guarantees will be put in place for tenants and homeowners, to ensure that that their right to a home is protected. ‘There are some very old council estates that are in need of regeneration, but that process must treat existing residents fairly,’ said Ian Fletcher, director of policy for real estate at the BPF. ‘The Government is therefore right to put some sorts of guarantees at the forefront of its policy and encourage a partnership approach. There are investors in our membership, pension funds and the like, who will be very interested in how they can contribute to those partnerships,’ he pointed out. ‘Communities need not only… Taylor Scott International
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