Newcastle consults on 109 social rent homes across 17 garage sites

Newcastle City Council has begun consulting residents on proposals to build up to 109 social rented homes on 17 small brownfield sites in Newbiggin Hall, West Denton, Slatyford and the Kenton Bar Estate.

The sites are currently occupied by underused garages and vacant land, the council said in a release on 9 November. If progressed, it said, they could deliver a mix of family housing and accessible properties.

The council said the homes would count towards its ambition to deliver 15,000 new homes across the city over the next decade, including more than 1,500 new council homes.

Councillor James Coles, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Housing and Green Investment at Newcastle City Council, said: "Our proposals show how even small, underused sites can play an important role in tackling Newcastle's housing shortage while bringing wider benefits to local communities."

The consultation

The council is holding public meetings and drop-in sessions, and said the feedback would shape any plans that emerge. Councillor Coles said: "This feedback will help inform what, if anything, is taken forward."

The council is also contacting existing garage tenants to understand current demand and usage, and is carrying out environmental assessments including ecological and bat surveys, Councillor Coles said.

According to the council, the sites are often underused, visually unattractive or vulnerable to anti-social behaviour. It said the proposals form part of its ongoing work to identify brownfield land suitable for housing and to support delivery of more social rented homes.

Regional funding

The garage sites were named earlier this year in a North East Combined Authority funding round. In February 2026 the combined authority announced £22m of grant funding to drive development of 1,122 new homes across the region, and said Newcastle City Council would use 17 old garage sites in Newbiggin Hall, Kenton, Slatyford and West Denton to build 109 new homes for social rent.

The combined authority said the funding would allow the city council to replace dated garages with new homes for social rent. The council's November release describes the sites as proposals subject to consultation, and does not say whether they will all go ahead.

The same combined authority round covers 451 new homes, including 137 for affordable rent or buy, under the seven-site Walker masterplan in Newcastle. Across the North East, 398 of the 1,122 homes will be for social rent or affordable purchase, and the grant unlocks almost £200m of investment by councils, housing associations and developers, the combined authority said.

Cllr Karen Kilgour, then leader of Newcastle City Council, said at the time that transforming disused garage sites was a clear example of the council's housing ambitions in action.

Council housebuilding programme

The garage proposals sit within a wider programme of council housebuilding in Newcastle. In August 2026 the council announced it had secured £141.4m of government funding to deliver 966 new council homes, after Homes England confirmed it as one of 33 Strategic Partners nationally.

The council said it was one of only three local authorities selected as a Strategic Partner. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government names the three as Cambridge City Council, Eastleigh Borough Council and Newcastle City Council.

The £141.4m forms part of the Government's 10-year £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme, which carries a target for at least 60% of its homes to be for Social Rent, according to the ministry.

Councillor Colin Ferguson, Leader of Newcastle City Council, said in August that accelerating council and affordable housebuilding in the city had been a key plank of the administration's manifesto in the local elections.

In July 2025 the council was also selected as one of ten vanguard councils to co-design the Council Housebuilding Support Service, a fully funded programme from the ministry.

Garage site precedent

The council has already built on a former garage site. In June 2025 it reported that residents had moved into six two-bedroom bungalows on the site of former council garages at Nithdale Close in Walkergate.

The council said that scheme was designed and delivered in-house by Newcastle City Council's Construction Services.

The council's March 2026 budget was presented as supporting its plan to build 15,000 homes in the next decade. The November release does not give a closing date for the garage site consultation or a timetable for any planning applications.