Hartlepool is a coastal town of about 93,000 people, situated in the North East of England. It was founded on ship building and steel making and has areas of high deprivation as well as more prosperous parts. It retains its industrial sector but is also expanding in the arts and creative sectors and is home to Britain’s oldest floating warship, HMS Trincomalee. Hartlepool Council successfully secured LRF funding to remove development constraints on Council owned land in a disadvantaged area of the town. This funding allowed the council to secure a local developer to deliver private for sale housing, to help diversify the housing mix and support the regeneration of the area.
About
- Partnership: Tees Valley Combined Authority
- Region: North East
- Theme: Seaton Lane Housing Site – LRF1 project
The challenge
Attracting a developer to the site to deliver private for sale housing, and change the housing mix in the area, had been a challenge due to the additional costs associated with contamination on the site and historically poor land values. The land was marketed for sale by informal tender and the availability of the LRF grant rendered the site viable by dealing with the high cost of site remediation.
The story
Hartlepool Borough Council successfully secured Land Release funding to remove development constraints on council-owned land in Golden Meadows, a disadvantaged area of the town. The site is home to a successful affordable housing scheme, delivered in 2010/11, but the rest of the site had remained unsold since then.
Attracting a developer to deliver private housing and change the housing mix in the area has been challenging, and an attempt to attract a developer in 2016/17 failed. This is because historically local land values have been poor, and contamination on site meant that development costs would be higher.
In 2018, the Council worked with the Tees Valley One Public Estate Partnership (Strategic Estates Group) to identify and subsequently secure £205,000 of Land Release Funding to remediate the site, with an ambition to deliver 41 new homes. The kinds of remediation works that the funding provided were removal of hydro-carbon contamination, emanating from a former tarmacked area and removal of other contaminants.
These homes were to be delivered by a developer who had already made an offer for the site but who had reduced their offer substantially following the results of their site investigation.
The Council then received an offer from Port Homes, a local developer with a strong commitment and ambition to create local jobs and a commitment to deliver five affordable homes for the council to hold within its Housing Revenue Account (HRA).
Port Homes delivered the remediation works, secured consent and ultimately delivered 53 homes (Phase 1) on the site, 12 more than originally planned.
The outputs
- 1.49ha of land unlocked for housing
- 53 homes delivered, 12 more than originally planned
- 5 affordable homes delivered for the council
- Delivery was delayed by the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic but 12 more houses than originally proposed in the grant application have been built.
As an authority, we have a strong, on-going commitment to support and encourage the provision of high-quality, affordable homes which meet the needs and aspirations of residents. We are grateful for the support provided through the Brownfield Land Release Fund which has enabled us to bring forward this previously unviable site for development by local company Port Homes.
Councillor Mike Young, Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council
The outcomes
The delivery of private for sale housing in this area of Hartlepool has made a significant contribution to the regeneration of the area in terms of:
- securing further development (Port Homes have secured consent for a further 76 homes on an adjacent site (Phase 2), without need for public sector funding support)
- attracting new residents to the area, changing the socio-demographic profile and supporting the wider economic growth ambitions for the area
- maintaining the sustainability of social infrastructure in terms of school place provision
- providing new, better quality affordable homes that is different to the terraced housing offer that dominates the area
- supporting the growth of a local developer and the subsequent impact in terms of job creation. 20 FTE jobs were created during Phase 1
- facilitating the ability to deliver a new and improved SEND school.
Other information
The scheme was on site when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This initially slowed down construction due to additional safety and social distancing measures required at the time, as well uncertainty about the impact that the pandemic would have on the housing market. As restrictions lifted and market confidence returned the developer was able to re-profile the housing delivery forecast. The developer re-commenced work on site as soon as they were able to do so and were able to sell properties successfully.