MORE than £7 million is going to be spent across Halton clearing land to make way for nearly 500 new homes.

The Liverpool City Region has released the cash as part of a scheme to spruce up old brownfield sites to make way for new developments.

In Halton, the schemes being funded are Palacefields in Runcorn, which will receive £1.77 million to make way for 118 new properties. The project will be managed by Riverside Housing.

In Widnes, Foundry Lane will get £5.35 million to make way for 274 new properties, a project which will be administered by Halton Borough Council.

A previous round of funding saw £1.79 million awarded to a scheme at Halton Court in Runcorn which could pave the way for 120 homes.

Any land that has been previously developed is classed as brownfield.  In the Liverpool City Region (LCR), much of the identified brownfield land is derelict and formerly industrial so needs to be cleaned up before it can be redeveloped.

The LCR Combined Authority is expected to rubber-stamp the new funding when it meets on Friday, with £36million being earmarked for 14 schemes across the LCR areas of Halton, Wirral, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Knowsley.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “For too many people across our region, the chance to own a home of their own remains out of reach.

“To tackle the housing crisis and help more people realise their home ownership ambitions, we need to take serious action to get more homes built across our region.

“When I was elected, I promised to prioritise brownfield sites for house building and have been working hard to make that a reality.

“Last year we spent £11m to help deliver almost 900 homes on brownfield sites.

“We are now looking at another £36m that should take the total to almost 4,000 new homes for people across our region.”