The government has named the 60 English councils receiving a share of the £125 million Derelict Buildings Fund, with interim guidance published on Wednesday 28 October 2026. Awards range from £1 million to £3 million per authority, intended to bring empty and deteriorating buildings back into use.
The new announcement takes September’s high-street regeneration promise into a more practical stage. We now have the actual recipient authorities, individual allocations, the kinds of buildings that might qualify and a timetable running to 2030. But neither the national government nor the councils have yet announced all the buildings to be supported.
For property owners, community organisations and planning advisers, the distinction matters. The Derelict Buildings Fund is money for selected councils to develop and deliver appropriate projects. It is not an open grant that any landlord can claim, and inclusion of an authority does not give a particular building planning approval or a guaranteed refurbishment budget.
Derelict Buildings Fund: who gets the money?
The official interim guidance confirms 60 recipient authorities. The largest allocations of £3 million include Bradford, Doncaster, Dudley, Enfield, Leicester, Nottingham, Sandwell, Wakefield, Wigan and Wirral. Bolton receives £2.92 million, Salford £2.80 million and Walsall £2.79 million.
Not every recipient receives £3 million. The annex gives the Isle of Wight £1.33 million, East Lindsey £1.39 million, Hastings £1 million, Blackpool £1.35 million and Plymouth £2.56 million. These are allocations to councils, not individual property awards. Each authority must decide which projects can credibly meet the objectives within its allocation.
The recipients were not simply chosen by counting vacant shops. The government’s methodology note uses employment deprivation within the Index of Multiple Deprivation. It then excludes certain largest urban authorities receiving separate City Densification Fund support and distributes the remaining money by a population-weighted formula.
This means a highly visible derelict cinema in an unselected borough does not automatically qualify for the Derelict Buildings Fund. Equally, a recipient council is not compelled to spend all its allocation on its best-known abandoned site. The local project list has still to be developed and justified.
When can councils start spending the money?
The Derelict Buildings Fund is intended to run from 2026 to 2030. By the end of 2026, participating councils are expected to start engaging with communities, build longlists of possible buildings and identify the feasibility, technical and professional work needed to bring forward sound projects.
Each authority is due a Memorandum of Understanding and an initial revenue allocation to support engagement and project development. More detailed guidance is promised before the end of 2026 on funding profiles, selection, delivery and monitoring. Those documents will be critical: the allocations announced on 28 October are not a series of unconditional construction contracts for named buildings.
First progress reports are scheduled for April 2027. The government expects delivery to begin in spring 2027, with the first delivery payments between April and June, subject to satisfactory progress and meaningful local engagement. Authorities will need project governance, financial management and assurance procedures alongside the more visible design and refurbishment work.
I would not confuse the preparatory work with a consent to build. Site selection, ownership arrangements, surveys, procurement, planning consent and available match finance can each alter the timetable substantially. Interested owners and community groups should watch how their council plans to identify and assess potential schemes.
Which properties may benefit from the Derelict Buildings Fund?
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government describes its ambition as bringing prominent long term vacant or derelict buildings back into productive community or commercial use
. The guidance expressly mentions shops, former department stores, offices, pubs, cinemas, theatres, places of worship and heritage buildings.
The intended outcomes can be commercial, community, cultural, public service or a sustainable combination of uses. A former retail building might support an independent trading space, while an empty civic building could become a local community or health facility where there is demonstrated need. The government says decisions should reflect local priorities rather than a nationally imposed list of approved end uses.
Councils are encouraged to focus on high streets, town and district centres and buildings capable of becoming neighbourhood anchors. However, the fund does not impose one rigid geographic boundary. A building outside the obvious shopping street might still be eligible where it would create a clear local benefit.
Projects already in development are not automatically excluded. That could be particularly valuable where a scheme has stalled because the cost of repairing historic fabric is greater than its commercial value. Such projects still need to meet the fund’s objectives and demonstrate community support. The Derelict Buildings Fund should not be described as a blanket viability subsidy for every stalled planning permission.
A council does not have to own or acquire all the properties it supports. Suitable rights of access, ownership and project delivery must nevertheless be secured. Acquisition, remediation or compulsory purchase could arise in appropriate cases, but an allocation gives no automatic right to take private land or bypass existing statutory protections.
Planning permission, heritage and ownership still matter
The grant does not determine the lawful use of a building. Bringing back a shop for a similar trading activity can involve different planning considerations from turning a former department store into flats, a clinic or a mixed community and commercial space. Planning Geek’s change-of-use guide explains why the existing use, proposed activity and relevant statutory rights need to be established before a building is occupied.
Historic property can add conservation requirements. Repairing an important frontage or converting a listed former theatre may require listed building consent even where the long-term aim is to protect the building. The assessment of heritage significance and harm must inform the actual work proposed.
Another detail in the guidance deserves attention. The council receiving the money must maintain appropriate separation between its role as accountable body and any interests it has as a commercial landlord or asset owner. That matters where an authority owns some of the potential regeneration properties and is also responsible for choosing and monitoring funded projects.
An allocation of £1 million to £3 million is a starting envelope, not proof that a complicated acquisition and full restoration are affordable. Abnormal repair costs, asbestos, accessibility, heritage restrictions, utilities, tenancy arrangements and future operating income all affect viability. A successful scheme will have to work after the ribbon-cutting.
What happens after the 60 allocations?
The Derelict Buildings Fund is part of the government’s previously announced £210 million Community Assets Programme, alongside £65 million for community ownership, £10 million for rental auctions and £10 million for regional co-operative development. These are separate programmes and the figures should not be treated as fresh additions to each authority’s own allocation.
Planning Geek covered the September announcement when the list of councils, individual awards and delivery rules were still unavailable. Publication of those details on 28 October is the material new event. It would be misleading to present the same £125 million as newly announced funding for a second time.
Owners and community organisations in the 60 areas should monitor local engagement exercises. Architects, surveyors and developers may find opportunities to contribute feasibility work or regeneration proposals, but no project selection or contract award follows simply from the national funding announcement.
The next decisions worth reporting will be the detailed guidance and councils’ proposed project lists, especially where they involve contentious acquisition, a major heritage asset or significant change of use. The Derelict Buildings Fund now has a meaningful national allocation framework. Whether it delivers lasting regeneration will depend on those next local choices, evidence and legal safeguards.
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