Homes England signs first Place Delivery Agreement with Liverpool City Region

Homes England has signed its first Place Delivery Agreement (PDA), with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the National Housing Bank.

The agreement was signed on 2 October. Homes England intends to sign PDAs with every established and mayoral strategic authority in the coming weeks, so Liverpool's agreement is likely to serve as the template for the rest of the country.

What is a Place Delivery Agreement?

A Place Delivery Agreement is a new way for Homes England and the National Housing Bank to work with mayoral strategic authorities and is part of the government's wider push on devolution. Instead of advising on and supporting schemes from the outside, the two bodies commit to delivering them jointly with the authority. Each agreement includes the creation of a Joint Delivery Unit, staffed by Homes England and the authority, with shared commitments and clearer accountability to the mayor. In practice, that gives local leaders a bigger hand in deciding which housing, regeneration and growth priorities come first in their area.

As devolution extends, PDAs will become the main way Homes England works with mayoral authorities, backed by a new regional operating model within the agency. However, areas without a mayor are not left out, with Homes England continuing to work with local partners there, so support, investment and expertise remain available outside the PDA structure.

What does Liverpool's agreement look like?

Liverpool's PDA is built around three pillars:

• Transformative growth, focused on the region's largest regeneration projects.
• A housing pipeline that increases delivery of social, affordable and council homes.
• Tackling barriers to delivery, including skills, capacity and the take-up of industrialised construction methods.

Two projects are already underway as part of this new scheme. The Liverpool North Docks Mayoral Development Corporation is expected to deliver around 17,000 homes, whilst Central Station Gateway is planned to bring forward around 4,300 homes across 86 acres.

Liverpool City Region metro mayor Steve Rotheram said the agreement offers "a real opportunity to get more council and social homes built, get stalled schemes moving and make sure investment is focused where it can make the biggest difference."

Where the money comes from

The National Housing Bank ensures that the agreement has a strong financial foundation on which to develop. The bank will invest £16bn over the next decade through debt, equity and guarantees, with the aim of attracting £50bn of private capital. Placing that finance inside a joint delivery structure gives schemes that have struggled to progress a more direct route to funding than they have had before.

What are Homes England’s next steps?

The PDA is a framework rather than a funding announcement. Its value will depend on how quickly the Joint Delivery Unit turns shared commitments into schemes on site. The next steps will be to see which stalled schemes are prioritised first, how Homes England's agreements with other mayoral authorities differ from Liverpool's and whether the commitment to industrialised construction translates into homes delivered.

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