Growth and Housing Accelerator (GHA) Fund
Prospectus
Contents
1 Introduction
During the Road Investment Strategy 3 (RIS3) period, the GHA Fund aims to accelerate the delivery of housing and economic development sites through a £165 million fund, by working collaboratively with local government and developers to deliver schemes on, or impacting, the SRN. It builds on the success of the Growth and Housing Fund, which ran from 2015-2020 and enabled up to 40,000 jobs and unlocked 45,000 homes.
The fund provides targeted, match-funded support for schemes that directly unlock new homes and jobs, supporting the government’s target of 1.5 million new homes during this parliament. The fund will focus on projects that are stalled and need this investment to move forward.
It works alongside other public and private investment, supports national and local growth objectives, and is designed to deliver strong value for money.
All investment must be matched by substantial private/public funding, and schemes must demonstrate clear need, deliverability, and alignment with planning and strategic priorities.
2 How much funding is available?
The GHA Fund provides £165 million over five years (2026-2030), targeting high-potential, local schemes to maximise impact and accelerate delivery of housing and jobs.
It aims for 75% match funding, with all schemes expected to secure substantial finances from other public or private sources.
The fund is focused on mature, deliverable projects that address clear funding gaps and can deliver homes and jobs during the RIS3 period.
3 How can the fund help?
The GHA Fund provides grant funding to unlock stalled schemes by investing in transport infrastructure that will facilitate the development of housing and employment sites.
The fund supports local authorities and mayoral combined and strategic authorities to carry out essential highway works where development has stalled because of funding viability challenges.
4 How will we select schemes?
The GHA Fund's primary purpose is to support the government's housing and economic growth missions. For a scheme to be eligible for the fund, it must first demonstrate that the intervention would be a complement to, and not a replacement for, the other funds from private or public sources.
We'll make sure we're investing at the right level. We'll need to be sure that we're only covering costs that the private sector could not be expected to, and that we're not distorting competition or the proper operation of the market.
We'll also need to be confident that the only thing holding back delivery of a scheme is the highway works themselves.
We anticipate applying the following criteria (see Annex A):
- Confirmation of match funding. We expect schemes to demonstrate substantial private match funding.
- Planning readiness. This will primarily be identified by the planning status of the sites to be served. Schemes should have full planning consents in place. We'll also consider what else has to happen before the scheme can start, such as compulsory purchase orders or other mitigations.
- Early delivery of jobs and homes – and added value. We'll also consider the timing and quantity of jobs, homes and other widescale economic impacts that will be unlocked by the scheme and compare these to the level of funding being requested.
- Strategic alignment. We'll consider the extent to which schemes align with the objectives of mayoral strategic authorities where applicable and whether they've been identified as strategic priorities.
- Deliverability. We expect schemes to have a preferred option and detailed design completed, costs provided, contractor engaged, all necessary consents secured, and either no major risks or, if risks exist, mitigations in place.
- SRN benefits. Schemes need to address their impact on the SRN and must demonstrate clear safety benefits.
We'll also assess the benefit cost ratio and value for money of all schemes using the Web Transport Analysis Guidance (WebTAG).
5 What happens next?
We want to make sure we're not missing opportunities to draw in private capital or support developments that can deliver significant numbers of homes and jobs during RIS3. We'll work closely with mayoral combined authorities and local authorities to identify eligible schemes. A formal call for applications will be issued, and proposals will be assessed through a structured sift process based on clear criteria, including deliverability, value for money, and alignment with SRN needs (see Annex B).
We welcome early engagement and feedback from partners to help shape the programme and ensure it delivers maximum impact. If you have a scheme that meets the GHA Fund objectives - or would like to discuss potential opportunities - please contact your local National Highways representative.
6 More information
For more information on our national plans for the fund, or if you have any comments on our funding offer, please contact: GHAFund@NationalHighways.co.uk
Annex A: Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund proposal scoring criteria
| Initial pass / fail criteria | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Does the scheme enable job and / or homes? | Scheme should be assessed against the sifting criteria | No evidence of jobs and / or homes - scheme fails automatically |
| Is match funding confirmed? | Scheme should be assessed against the sifting criteria | No match funding identified - scheme fails automatically |
| Does the scheme create any safety disbenefits? | Presence of any SRN safety disbenefits - scheme fails automatically | Scheme should be assessed against the sifting criteria |
Sifting criteria and scoring key
Max score: The highest possible score a criterion can receive (eg 5)
Automatic fail: Criteria where a score of 0 is an automatic fail (shown in bold)
Weight: The importance of influence of that criterion in the overall evaluation
Total score: The actual score a scheme receives for that criterion, multiplied by the weight
Schemes that achieve a score of 0 for jobs and homes are ineligible for the GHA Fund.
| Criteria | Very high | High | Medium | Medium / low | Low | Low / ineligible | [max score] x [weight] = [total score] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Enable early and substantial delivery of jobs | 3,000 or more jobs enabled (all years) | Jobs enabled Year 1 (any) 750 to 2,999 jobs (all years) | 100 to 749 jobs enabled (all years) | 50 to 99 jobs enabled (all years) | 1 to 49 jobs enabled (all years) | 0 jobs enabled / 0 jobs and 0 homes - automatic fail |
5 x 3 = 15 |
| Enable early and substantial delivery of homes | 4,000 or more homes enabled (all years) | Homes enabled Year 1 (any) 2,500 to 3,999 jobs (all years) | 1,000 to 2,499 homes enabled (all years) | 250 to 999 homes enabled (all years) | 1 to 249 homes enabled (all years) | 0 homes enabled / 0 homes and 0 jobs - automatic fail |
5 x 3 = 15 |
| Intensity (% of all public funding identified) | 50% or less | 60% or less | 75% or less | 90% or less | 91 - 99% | No match funding identified - automatic fail | 5 x 2 = 10 |
| Match funding confirmed | Yes - both public and private | Yes - public or private (one only) | Funding pending negotiation or decision | No information provided | 5 x 2 = 10 | ||
| Planning / scheme readiness | At least one full permission including the requirement for applicant transport infrastructure to be delivered and an approved full business case for other public funding | At least one outline permission including the requirement for applicant transport infrastructure to be delivered and an approved full business case for other public funding | Substantial evidence of pre-app engagement or at least one outline permission is in place or no full business case (still in development / awaiting approval) | Some evidence of pre-app engagement and / or full business case still in development / awaiting approval | No planning application or pre-app engagement | 5 x 1 = 5 | |
| Local housing and growth objectives | Scheme identified in post-2020 local plan / development plan, included in public documents as a strategic priority for mayoral combined / strategic authority and Homes England and evidence of high-growth jobs and acute housing need | Scheme identified in post-2020 local plan / development plan and included in public documents as a strategic priority for mayoral combined / strategic authority or Homes England or evidence of high-growth jobs and acute housing need | Scheme identified in post-2020 local plan / development plan and evidence of site(s) as a strategic priority for mayoral combined / strategic authority or Homes England | Scheme identified as priority in post-2020 local plan / development plan | Scheme identified as priority in pre-2020 local plan / development plan | No evidence provided of alignment with local plan / development plan or local / regional priorities and objectives | 5 x 2 = 10 |
| Deliverability - scheme design | Preferred option identified, detailed design completed | Preferred option agreed with initial designs | Several options under consideration - no designs | No scheme options or scheme designs | 3 x 1 = 3 | ||
| Deliverability - costs and procurement | Detailed costs provided, contractor engaged, National Highways consents secured | High-level costs and route to procurement identified / ECI ongoing, National Highways consents in train | Initial strategic estimates provided, procurement strategy in place, initial engagement with National Highways for consents | No costs provided, no information on procurement, no National Highways engagement on consents | 5 x 3 = 15 | ||
| Deliverability - risks | No risks around ground conditions, CPO or SU identified or ground conditions mitigated, CPO complete, SU agreements in place | Risks around ground conditions, CPO or SU identified - with planned mitigations | Risks around ground conditions, CPO or SU identified - no mitigation | No information provided on ground conditions, CPO or SU | 5 x 3 = 15 | ||
| Safety - SRN benefits | Substantial additional SRN safety benefits by addressing existing issues on the SRN identified | Some additional SRN safety benefits by addressing existing issues on the SRN identified | No additional safety benefits in relation to the existing SRN / if safety disbenefits are identified - automatic fail | 3 x 1 = 3 | |||
| Public transport and active mode benefits | Five or more of the scope items at left | Four of the scope items at left | Three of the scope items at left | Two of the scope items at left | At least one of the following in scope of scheme (new or improved): footbridge, cycle path, pedestrian or horse-riding crossing, multi-modal interchange, all station improvement, other public transport facility, habitat or biodiversity provision, new low carbon technology used in construction or maintenance of new infrastructure | No active mode, multi-modal or sustainable / low-carbon elements in project scope | 5 x 2 = 10 |
Potential total / max score = 111
Annex B: GHA Fund end-to-end process
View text only version
Process map planning - text only
Pre-application and EOI stage
1 National Highways website resources / pro-application communications
2 EOI form
3 Sifting template
4 Programme board of papers
5 Decision: Sub-programme board and sifting
Outcomes:
6 Put on hold or deferred, or
7 Move to full business case
Full business case
8 Invitation to full application
9 Provision of scheme information by applicant, including approved business case for other public funding where available
10 Draft full assessment form or draft National Highways full business case, deliverability and financial risk assurance form, viability assurance form, cost assurance form
11 Decision: VfM and deliverability workshop
Outcomes:
12 Put on hold or deferred, return to 5, or
13 Full National Highways full business case – finalised versions of: deliverability and financial risk assurance form, viability assurance form, cost assurance form
14 VfM statement / AA statement
15 IDC paper
16 Decision: Full IDC
Contract and delivery stage
17 Agreement offer letter
18 Agreement template
19 Contract monitoring form / claim form
Monitoring and evaluation stage
20 Draft evaluation requirements
21 Post-contract monitoring form
