The 34 successful bidders for last year's £300m Challenge Fund are to get first bite at the sites and cash to be unveiled shortly by the Housing Partnership – the joint venture between English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation.
The body, established by John Prescott in February, has been charged with locating public-sector-owned sites and bringing these forward as quickly as possible for housing development.

The sites are understood to be predominantly in London and the South-east.

Successful bidders for the Challenge Fund included leading developer Places for People – number three on the top 50 of developing associations compiled by Housing Today and the National Housing Federation (page 16).

However, there were some surprising omissions, such as the associations in first and second place in the list, Peabody and Home.

A development source said: "There's a lot going on just now around the drive for delivery. But it doesn't make sense to go just with the Challenge Fund bidders as there are some perfectly good developing RSLs that are left off that list."

The first tranche of Housing Partnership sites is understood to be nearing completion and an announcement is expected in the next few weeks on their location and how much money – provided by the Housing Corporation – will be available.

Source

Housing Today