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The Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF) is a cross-government initiative between the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and One Public Estate (OPE) which is delivered in partnership by the Local Government Association and the Cabinet Office.
October 2024
On 15 October 2024 the government announced that £68 million of Brownfield Land Release Funding will go directly to 54 councils who will be able to use the money to turn surplus land into new homes. The funding will mean councils can clear empty buildings, former car parks and industrial land to make way for the homes. Brownfield land can be expensive to prepare for house building, meaning sites are sat empty and can be an eyesore for local communities.
BLRF funding means councils will be able to cover the cost of decontamination, clearing disused buildings or improving infrastructure such as internet, water and power. As a result, land will be released to enable 5,200 homes to be built across the country.
Find out more about the 54 councils which received funding.
December 2023
On 12 December 2023 DLUHC made up to £80m of capital grant funding available to English councils through the third and final round of the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF2). The first two rounds of BLRF2 awarded almost £100m over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to release land for almost 8,600 homes by March 2027.
October 2023
On 9 October 2023 DLUHC made a further £60m of capital grant funding available to English councils, funding almost 100 regeneration projects across the country. Derelict car parks, industrial sites and town centre buildings which have fallen into disrepair will all benefit from the new funding, supporting communities to build homes, bring land back into use and help local areas reach their full potential. To date the BLRF2 fund is supporting at least 89 local authorities, over 160 projects, and providing almost £100 million to support councils to release land for almost 6,800 homes.
January 2023
On 18 January 2023 DLUHC made a further £60m of capital grant funding available to all English councils through the second round of the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF2). Up to £180 million Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 (BLRF2) capital grant funding is available to all English councils over a three-year period to support the release of council-owned brownfield land for housing. The first round of BLRF 2 launched in June 2022 providing almost £35 million of funding to more than 40 councils, to release land for at least 2,200 homes by 2026.
Nov 2022
On Saturday 19 November 2022 DLUHC announced that up to £35m has been allocated under the Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 (BLRF2) to 41 local authorities’ projects in England. This forms the first round of BLRF2 which will see £180m of funding being rolled out via the OPE programme. The funding will help councils to transform unused, redundant or derelict sites into high quality homes.
July 2022
On 8 July 2022 our OPE programme made up to £180 million of capital grant funding available to English councils through their newly launched Brownfield Land Release Fund (BRLF2). The funding was made available to councils over a three-year period to support the release of council-owned brownfield land for housing.
February 2022
On Thursday 24 February 2022, DLUHC announced that a further £8 million was being awarded under the BLRF to 13 local authorities projects in England. This comes on the back of £69 million already awarded to 76 projects under the BLRF in 2021. An additional £3.67 million will be allocated for custom and self-build housing projects. Collectively, the new announcements aimed to unlock surplus local authority land for nearly 900 homes.
These projects are contributing towards the government's plan to level up communities across the country, creating vibrant new places for people to live and work, boosting local economies, and delivering new homes and jobs.
In 2018 the Land Release Fund awarded £45 million capital funding to over 70 council-led projects to combat barriers which would otherwise make land unusable for development.
The projects – which aim to support building strong communities – aimed to bring forward the release of local authority owned land for over 7,000 new homes.
Funding is allocated for small-scale land remediation and infrastructure works such as asbestos removal and bat alleviation, as well as schemes that will significantly improve quality of life such as essential relocating of a pelican crossing.
2018 Land Release Fund Awards (PDF)
To find out more about the programme, email [email protected]
