'Vote of confidence in our city': Leeds Council leader welcomes major housing funding
The government has announced a major new investment into housing in Leeds city centre - here’s what the Leader of Leeds City Council has to say about it 🗣
The Leader of Leeds City Council has praised the Government’s plans to help fund thousands of houses in key city centre neighbourhoods and said he believes the investment will “strengthen” Leeds.
Today (April 20), Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the Government’s City Investment Funds (CIFs) would invest millions of pounds into Leeds to unlock new home and job opportunities.
Coun James Lewis said: “The announcement made by the Chancellor in Leeds today is a real vote of confidence in our city and the opportunities offered by the transformation of its former industrial heartlands.
“The council and its partners have achieved great things with a whole range of regeneration projects in recent years, but we know there is still more to do before Leeds’s full potential is unlocked.”
The investment from the Government’s City Investment Funds includes support to deliver 3,500 homes within Temple Works and the wider Temple District, 570 homes within West End Riverside, and 246 homes within Meadow Lane.
The funding also hopes to expand leisure facilities and green space within the wider Temple District and introduce more than 200,000 sq ft of new Grade A space within the Northern Square Mile.
Councillor James Lewis said he believes the funding boost will help continue ongoing projects to regenerate Leeds.
He said: “This funding will help us to collectively meet that aim, not least by supporting the delivery of much-needed homes in key strategic locations such as West End Riverside and Meadow Lane as well as the Temple District, where we are already working hard alongside partners to breathe new life into the Temple Works building.
“The funding will also, by facilitating the creation of commercial and leisure space, strengthen even further the reputation of Leeds as a brilliant place to do business and, crucially, a city with an economy that works for everyone.”
The funding boost was revealed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) at Leeds Dock earlier today.
It is hoped that funding will accelerate housing delivery, bring forward major new commercial space, support the renewal of key city-centre neighbourhoods in Leeds.