Grant of £685k to be used towards 49 new council homes

Thanet council wants to build 12 of the 49 new homes on land at Tomlin Drive (Image Hazle McCormack Young LLP (HMY))

Thanet council has been allocated £685,275 of government funding  which will be used to support the building of homes on brownfield sites

The funding, through the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) Brownfield Land Release Fund, will go towards phase four of the council’s programme to with 49 new homes being built. They will form part of the council’s social housing stock and will be rented out to households on the housing register.

Locations have been identified at Tomlin Drive, Dane Valley Road and the former Dane Valley Arms site in Margate, and Staner Court and Clements Road in Ramsgate. All of these are brownfield sites, which means the land has been previously developed. They are all owned by the council, and currently have either disused garages or laundry drying areas on them.

Cllr Helen Whitehead, Cabinet Member for Housing with at Thanet District Council, said: “As a council we will always prioritise brownfield development, and we take active measures to do so, including the excellent work that went into applying for this fund by council officers.

“Residents need social and genuinely affordable housing, and we will prioritise this need to support all of our community. We are dedicated to providing genuinely affordable homes for local people, with over a hundred homes due to be acquired or delivered before the end of this year. This funding will enable us to directly build a significant number of new properties, which will make a huge difference to residents and to Thanet.”

The developments are all subject to planning permission. Applications have been submitted to the council’s planning department and it is expected that work will begin in spring 2024, and be completed by spring 2026.

Nearly 100 regeneration projects across England will receive a share of £60 million funding as part of the second phase of the government’s £180 million Brownfield Land Release Fund.

Plans for new council homes at Tomlin Drive and former Dane Valley Arms

Council plans for 11 new homes on land at Staner Court