Hull and East Yorkshire signs Strategic Place Partnership with Homes England

Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority has signed a Strategic Place Partnership with Homes England, with Mayor Luke Campbell MBE and agency chair Pat Ritchie CBE putting their names to the agreement at Hull Guildhall.

The partnership, announced by Homes England on 9 October, brings the combined authority (HEYCA) together with the agency, Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council around a shared approach to housing and regeneration across the region.

Homes England said the arrangement would build a coordinated pipeline of priority developments and bring its national expertise in earlier, rather than treating major sites in isolation. It is centred on a deliverable pipeline and a shared business plan for bringing those schemes forward.

Luke Campbell MBE, Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, said: "There is huge, untapped potential across Hull and East Yorkshire. We have brownfield and underused land that can become new homes, new neighbourhoods and places where people genuinely want to live."

The sites

The agreement builds on work already under way. In Hull, East Bank Urban Village is planned as a riverside neighbourhood of up to 850 homes on largely vacant brownfield land beside the River Hull, with phase one construction expected to start in 2027, according to Homes England.

Hull City Council said it submitted detailed designs for phase one on 15 April 2026 with its lead development partner, English Cities Fund (ECF), as part of a hybrid application that also includes outline plans for the wider neighbourhood.

Phase one comprises 37 townhouses and 78 apartments across two buildings, all of them affordable, the council said. It also includes the landing for the Scale Lane bridge on the eastern bank of the river.

The council said the project is supported by £9.8m of Levelling Up Partnership funding and would be delivered over 15 years with a mix of affordable houses and build-to-rent apartments, contributing to its ambition of 2,500 new homes in Hull city centre. ECF describes the scheme as up to 850 homes in a mix of affordable and build-to-rent apartments and townhouses.

In East Yorkshire, Homes England said it is already working with East Riding of Yorkshire Council on plans at Easton Road in Bridlington and the redevelopment of Alamein Barracks in Driffield, and is supporting partners with plans for around 1,800 homes at Howden.

Pat Ritchie CBE, Chair of Homes England, said: "Through this Strategic Place Partnership, we will work with the Mayor and local partners to align investment, unlock growth and regeneration, and create opportunities that make a real difference to people across the region."

The route to a Place Delivery Agreement

Homes England said its ambition is for every area with a Strategic Place Partnership to progress to a Place Delivery Agreement (PDA), which brings together the powers, investment and delivery capability of the agency and the National Housing Bank.

That next stage is already taking shape elsewhere. The agency said on 2 October that it had agreed the first PDA with Liverpool City Region, building on that region's existing Strategic Place Partnership, and that it aims to agree one with every established and mayoral strategic authority over the coming weeks. PDAs will become the principal way Homes England works with mayoral authorities, it said.

The National Housing Bank, a Homes England company and government-backed public finance institution, plans to invest up to £16bn over the next decade through debt, equity and guarantee products.

Homes England described Strategic Place Partnerships as a key way it supports locally driven housing and regeneration. By 4 December 2025 it had signed its 10th such partnership with a mayoral strategic authority, with East Midlands Combined County Authority.

HEYCA said the agreement also supports its Local Growth Plan, which aims to strengthen transport links and unlock housing and infrastructure investment.

After the signing, representatives from HEYCA and Homes England visited Hull Fruit Market and the East Bank, where phase one construction is expected to begin in 2027.