West Midlands and north councils and RSLs petition government as market collapse continues
A unique grouping of landlords, councils and representative organisations in northern England and the west Midlands is preparing a mammoth bid for government funding to renew housing in areas where markets are collapsing, Housing Today has learned.

The bid to establish a special market renewal fund in next year's comprehensive spending review is certain to run to hundreds of millions of pounds, and into billions longer-term. It is backed by evidence from the groundbreaking Birmingham university studies of housing markets in the M62 corridor and west Midlands, released earlier this year.

The submission, first floated at a meeting in September with junior housing minister Sally Keeble, will include costed examples of possible remedies from three sample areas.

The grouping includes the three northern housing forums, the National Housing Federation, the key cities group including Birmingham, and the Northern Consortium of Housing Authorities.

The research, by the university's Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, caused alarm in the sector when it revealed the extent of market collapse (Housing Today, 8 February, and 17 May).

The M62 report found 280,000 homes in areas "at risk" and developed a model for pinpointing housing types and areas most likely to suffer abandonment.

The west Midlands research highlighted decades of "white flight" with black and minority ethnic communities left trapped in inner areas of poor housing. Parallel research is underway in the north east and in Yorkshire and Humberside.

North West Housing Forum link officer Steven Fyfe said that the aim was to establish a government commitment for 15 to 20 years. "This exercise is about returning value to areas that otherwise will not have a tremendous future," he told Housing Today. "That means attracting the private sector and individuals back to them. But markets need certainty. Councils will have to give long term commitments on any interventions."

The amount of government support needed has proved difficult to quantify because some areas already have programmes running. "The do-nothing option has costs too," he warned.

The group wants to see action on a far greater scale than current programmes such as the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. One option is to form new organisations to Channel all programmes into a single pot, similar to the old urban development corporations.

Fyfe added: "There will obviously need to be structures. But at present outcomes are much more important."

National Housing Federation head of northern regions Jim Battle added: "This is a key piece of work in establishing what policy initiatives are needed."