Sites in Telford, London and Birmingham were today announced as the next three to be developed under the Homes and Communities Agency’s Public Land Initiative.

The HCA says that the new sites will bring  450 new and affordable homes to the areas selected.

The scheme aims to bring forward publicly owned housing sites  using a new approach to procurement and delivery. It avoids selling public land outright to developers, instead making land available on a deferred payment basis.

In detail, the sites being announced today are:

• ‘The Croppings Parcel A’, Lightmoor Urban Village, Telford: 100 homes are planned for the HCA-owned site, of which 30 will be affordable. Outline planning permission is secured and infrastructure work is expected to start this Summer.
• Mildmay Regeneration project (pictured), Tower Hamlets, London: 139 homes are planned for this site owned by Paddington Churches Housing Association, of which 49 will be affordable. Subject to planning permission, work is expected to start this Summer.
• Birmingham PLI cluster: 230 homes are planned on six sites owned by Birmingham City Council, of which 80 will be affordable. Subject to planning permission, work is expected to start in early Autumn.

In total 1,250 homes are expected to be delivered through the PLI by the end of March 2012; 500 of which are set to be affordable.

Funding for the was announced as part of the government’s Housing Pledge in June 2009.

• Give developers more land, public bodies told
• HCA scraps London-wide initiative PPP
• LDA announces six new development sites
• Birmingham to set up private rented housing vehicle
• Dudley College to develop three town centre sites