Housing minister unveils £18m housebuilding fund

Councils can bid for a share of the housebuilding fund to tackle planning issues that can cause delay and prevent builders from getting on site and starting work quickly.

The government has unveiled an £18m fund in a fresh bid to speed up housebuilding.

Councils can bid for a share of the housebuilding fund to tackle planning issues that can cause delays and prevent builders from getting on sites to start work quickly.

The money will also be used to create six housing zones to support development on brownfield land, providing 10,000 new homes in each.

Meanwhile the government is supporting a new Garden Town at Otterpool Park, Shepway in Kent, which will deliver up to 12,000 new homes along with schools and other essential facilities.

A further £1.5m is being provided to support existing Garden Towns and Communities at Bicester, Didcot, Basingstoke, North Essex and North Northamptonshire.

Gavin Barwell (pictured), Housing Minister, said: “We want to turbo-charge house building on large sites to get the homes built in the places people want to live, so that this country works for everyone, not just the privileged few.

“These sites offer enormous potential to transform brownfield land into new homes and our £18m funding will help get them built much sooner.

“Furthermore, we are getting behind plans for a new Garden Town which offers a unique opportunity to boost the local economy, jobs and provide new homes in Shepway, Kent.”

The six housing zones are in Sheffield, Grimsby and Cleethorpes, Barnsley, Sandwell in the West Midlands, Blackburn and Burnley, and Merseyside.