By Bindu Pokkyarath, Director of Economics at Pegasus Group
The new Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund is a welcome aid that could unblock consented sites by alleviating prohibitive costs of essential road infrastructure.
New housing and employment sites are urgent priorities for the UK. But the prohibitive cost of essential road infrastructure has often stalled consented development sites from progressing. The Government’s new Growth and Housing Accelerator (GHA) Fund could change that. The Expression of Interest is now open.
Backed by £165 million from National Highways, the Fund takes a more pragmatic approach to unlocking housing and growth. It co-invests the money into targeted upgrades on or near the Strategic Road Network – England’s core network of motorways and major A-roads, comprising roughly 4,300 miles of highway.
In many ways, this network acts as the UK’s primary artery for economic growth and connectivity, carrying one-third of all traffic and two-thirds of freight. Targeting the investments at the road network could make a big difference for turning planning approval into delivery.
Why the GHA matters for developers: it de-risks delivery
For many schemes, highway works are the final and often prohibitive barrier to viability. The GHA Fund is designed precisely for these scenarios. It supports projects where a defined transport intervention is the only thing holding back delivery, directly aligning infrastructure spend with housing and employment outcomes. This is not speculative funding: it prioritises mature, deliverable schemes with planning in place and a clear route to construction.
Bids will be led by local authorities or mayoral strategic authorities, but early developer engagement is actively encouraged. The fund expects substantial match funding (typically around 75%), ensuring public investment complements rather than replaces private capital. In practice, this creates a collaborative model where developers, councils and National Highways share risk and accelerate delivery together.
Focused & Outcome‑Led Investment
What’s particularly positive about the Fund is that it sits within Road Investment Strategy 3, the Government’s five-year strategy for investment in and management of the Strategic Road Network from April 2026 to March 2031. In doing so, the Fund reframes transport investment as the direct growth enabler it always was.
Schemes are assessed on a few factors: planning readiness, deliverability, value for money, and the scale and timing of homes and jobs unlocked. This focus on near‑term outcomes should give housing and commercial developers confidence that supported projects will move quickly from consent to construction.
This model is not new. A previous Growth and Housing Fund already helped unlock 45,000 homes and 40,000 jobs between 2015 and 2020. The GHA Fund simply builds on that track record with clearer criteria and stronger alignment to national housing priorities.
For developers with consented sites stalled by highway constraints, this is a fund worth paying close attention to. It signals a more integrated, delivery‑focused approach with infrastructure and housing progressing together, at pace.
If you’re working on a housing or commercial scheme where viability is a challenge, and you need help with public sector funding solutions that can make it deliverable, please get in touch. We would love to support you – please contact Bindu Pokkyarath, Director of Economics.