OPE launches new funding window, giving areas the opportunity to apply for up to £500,000 revenue funding to deliver land and projects in their local areas.
On Tuesday 1 August One Public Estate (OPE) launched a new funding window giving:
- new areas the opportunity to apply to join the programme
- existing OPE partnerships the opportunity to access additional funding to further develop their plans.
Partnerships will be able to apply for up to £500,000 revenue funding to deliver land and projects in the local areas.
We are pleased to announce a new cross-government partnership between One Public Estate and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) that will create a wider support package for partnerships to unlock more surplus land and property. The Local Authority Land Release fund, announced in the government’s Housing White Paper earlier this year, will provide a pot of £45 million capital funding for land remediation and infrastructure projects that will deliver much-needed land for housing.
Some schemes may be able to benefit from both funding pots where resource and capital funding is required to allow local authority owned land to be released for housing development. For example, OPE revenue funding could allow for land or infrastructure studies to be undertaken, with Land Release funding enabling any necessary works arising from these studies to be undertaken.
Other new elements to the OPE will see a pilot scheme offering existing OPE partnerships the opportunity to apply for a repayable grant of up to £500,000, in addition to any grant funding applied for. The programme will also see the introduction of a new Pool of Experts, providing OPE partnerships with the procurement free route to access specialists in anything from feasibility and master planning to health and housing.
Read the prospectus outlining the full support available through the programme and application process.
Read the basic details form to be completed by partnerships to accompany OPE applications.
Read the LRF Supporting Guidance setting out in detail what information local authorities should provide for DCLG Land Release Fund. Use the Technical Annex as a tool for calculating the approximate economic benefits generated by new housing development.
Read the OPE Benefits guidance that provides an explanation for each of the benefits; capital receipts, reduced running costs, land released for new homes and inward investment.
Open day
Read the OPE Presentation, LRF Presentation and Q&A’s from the Open Day on Friday 11 August.