A coalition of councils, housing organisations and MPs are demanding the government extend the market renewal pathfinder initiative.
MPs, led by Labour MP David Wright, have tabled an early day motion that calls for redoubled government effort and funds for market renewal.

So far, 29 MPs have lent their support to the motion, including ex-Cabinet minister and MP for Hartlepool Peter Mandelson and Alice Mahon, MP for Halifax. Mandelson said: "Housing market renewal is crucial to regenerate areas where decline has occurred for decades." Wright said: "We are going to need sustained new investment."

Meanwhile, the National Housing Federation and the Chartered Institute of Housing are drafting a strategy to extend the pathfinder initiative to cover a huge swath of the North and Midlands.

The strategy identifies five "shadow pathfinder areas" where problems of low-demand are particularly acute. The Tees Valley shadow pathfinder, covering Middlesbrough, Stockton and Hartlepool, needs £700m of central government funding over 15 years to address the problem according to Jim Johnsone, its director.

Market renewal is crucial to regenerate areas where decline has occurred

Peter Mandelson MP

In all, the five proposed pathfinders cover Wolverhampton, Telford & Wrekin, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley, Birmingham, Solihull, Allerdale, Copeland, Barrow-in-Furness, Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool, Darlington, Redcar and Cleveland, Leeds, Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield. Corby and Sunderland also hope to get involved.

Their concerns gained impetus this summer when a study revealed that renewal projects were doing nothing for 1.2 million homes at risk of low demand in the North-west alone (HT 15 August, page 17).

Johnsone said: "The challenge is out there whatever happens with funding and we'll be working to address market failure with or without government cash."

Source

Housing Today