Leeds aiming to deliver 20,000 new homes for city living

Leeds City Council is targeting to deliver nearly 20,000 new homes in the city centre and surrounding areas, by 2028.

The city is now looking to play a major role in brokering relationships between funders and developers and working with the Government to invest in infrastructure to unlock brownfield sites to deliver a mix of housing types, tenure and price.

Leeds is already delivering more new homes per annum than any other core city, but city centre residential delivery has been slower to recover in recent years.

Now, the third largest city in the UK is seeking to accelerate that development as it looks to cater for a working age population that is increasing at a higher rate than both the EU as a whole, and key European cities including Berlin, Madrid, and Milan.

Six key zones that have been identified include the city centre core, which is capable of delivering nearly 2,000 homes; South Bank and Holbeck, supporting around 7,600 homes; Hunslet Riverside, 1,885 homes; East Street Corridor, 1,350 homes; The Northern Gateway, 2,707 homes and the West End and Kirkstall Corridor with 4,253 homes.

These include a wide range of schemes from innovative high-quality ‘niche’ developments such as the Climate Innovation District at Low Fold, which will offer 312 zero-carbon apartments and houses to mixed tenure communities, including local authority owned housing such as East Bank (Saxton Gardens).

In order to unlock funding and generate investment, the authority is looking to work in partnership with the private sector exploring a variety of funding models including pump priming, patient investments and grant funding.

The council is also looking at its investment strategy to focus on ‘people-centric’ infrastructure that will improve city centre connectivity and the attractiveness of sites as places to live, to encourage developers to bring projects forward.

Land assembly and site acquisition will also play a major role in bringing plans to fruition.

Councillor Judith Blake, Leader of Leeds City Council, said: “Ensuring that Leeds has a vibrant city centre that everyone can benefit from is at the heart of the council’s plans. Key to that is attractive, thriving communities that people want to live in and delivering a wide variety of housing types and tenures to suit all life stages.

“Leeds has one of the fastest growing economies and workforces in the UK with 140,000 people working in the city centre alone.

“Transforming our brownfield sites into these attractive communities supports regeneration, continued economic growth and public services, helping to avoid the problems that some cities have faced of low levels of occupation of the city centre at weekends.

“We are taking a proactive approach to boosting housing delivery locally and providing an example of best practice nationally.”

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