Brownfield sites to become homes after £1.6m grant

The government grant will be used to turn brownfield sites into affordable housing

Brownfield sites in north Kent are set to become affordable housing thanks to a £1.6m government grant.

Gravesham Borough Council has been awarded the cash from the Department for Levelling Up's Brownfield Land Release Fund.

The money will be used to redevelop Milton Place in Gravesend.

It will be the first project for the Gravesend Community Investment Partnership (GCIP), a collaboration between the council and developer The Hill Group.

Gravesham Borough Council has partnered with a development company to use the money

The authority has been awarded £1,628,757 from the fund, while GCIP is expected to issue a planning application for Milton Place in the near future.

Karina O'Malley, cabinet member for housing services, said: “We have ambitious plans to speed up the delivery of affordable housing and to bring down the numbers of households on our housing register.

“We are already delivering on our promise of building hundreds of new council-owned homes, with our development at Armoury Drive, Gravesham, which opened earlier this year, and work is getting underway on new homes at St Patrick’s Gardens."

Andy Hill, group chief executive of the Hill Group, said: “Securing this government funding is a crucial step forward in making our plans a reality.”