Even within a county like Yorkshire, which boasts great cities like Leeds, York and Sheffield alongside idyllic rural towns like Ilkley and Richmond, successfully levelling up is a major challenge. It involves complex questions about how to attract investment; how to grow regional skills bases and retain talent; and how to revitalise struggling towns while other thrive.

These questions require a coordinated strategy. And the importance of delivering affordable, aspirational homes as part of that strategy should not be underestimated.

There has been a net loss of 24,000 affordable homes in England since 1991 and research suggests that there are more than 156,000 householders currently on affordable housing waiting lists across Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire faces significant challenges in delivering affordable homes in desirable rural locations, leading North Yorkshire Council to recently establish a North Yorkshire Rural Taskforce to address the issue. And a shortage of affordable homes is not consigned to rural areas alone. Cities like Leeds, York and Sheffield have faced challenges in ensuring enough quality, affordable homes are available too.

Building aspirational, affordable homes to support is crucial within this context. However, developers and housing associations also need to be able to generate support from communities across Yorkshire for these new homes.

To achieve this, genuine collaboration with local authorities across Yorkshire and central government is crucial. Developers and housing associations need to work with local authorities to understand the local challenges around housing delivery and the core needs of the communities they serve.

Clarion Housing Group is committed to investing hundreds of millions of pounds across Yorkshire, delivering thousands of homes to meet the needs of communities. We are currently working with Caddick Group to identify the local housing need for a new 4,000-home settlement in Maltkiln, between York and Harrogate.

As a strategic partner of Homes England, we have also received the maximum grant of £250m for the 2021-26 Affordable Housing Programme. Within this, we are allocating £40m towards delivering 800 new homes in Yorkshire, with work beginning between 2021 and 2026.

When it comes to delivering homes that are both highly desirable and affordable, we believe the shared ownership model, where homeowners purchase a portion of a new property and can increase their share of ownership over time, has an important role to play.

At The Cocoa Works, our flagship redevelopment of the Rowntree’s factory in York, we are delivering 30 per cent of homes through shared ownership. At our adjacent Cocoa Gardens scheme, we will be offering 35 per cent of homes through affordable options, with 56 available through shared ownership.

Regenerating existing homes and estates is crucial to housing delivery and levelling up. It can deliver quality new homes, boost the economy and breathe life into communities by rejuvenating tired brownfield land.

However, while regeneration has a vital role to play in helping level up across Yorkshire, no grant funding currently exists to support these transformative projects. To give levelling up the best chance of succeeding, this needs to change.

Richard Cook is group director of development at Clarion Housing Group

New affordable housing must be key to levelling up strategy: Richard Cook