Prescott unveils new sites for low-cost housing

Monday, 6 June 2005 12:00 AM

The Government has set out the next steps in its challenge to find organisations able to construct a house for around £60,000.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott named the 33 organisations that will be progressing to the next stage of the competition, designed to tackle the shortage of low-cost properties.

Mr Prescott also named three new sites in Hastings, Stone and Merton that will be made available for development by the eventual winners of the competition.

This makes a total of ten sites, including those already announced in Milton Keynes, Aylesbury, Northampton and Leeds, which will be available for the construction of low-cost homes.

The Design for Manufacture competition is part of the Government's plans to create one million more homeowners within the next five years.

The organisations named today progress to stage two of the competition and have until July to submit firm proposals for constructing their homes.

Speaking in Watford this afternoon at a new showcase exhibition for housing design, Mr Prescott described the interest in the competition as "staggering".

He said: "My Design for Manufacture Competition is challenging house builders to think creatively and innovatively in order to provide homes that are well designed and affordable at the same time.

"At a time when construction costs are rising and we need to build more for our money, I want to help more people get onto the housing ladder while still driving up standards in design, construction methods and creating truly sustainable communities."

The Government has also today sent out invitations to people it would like to see on the Design for Manufacture judging panel, which will be responsible for making recommendations to the Deputy Prime Minister and drawing up the final shortlist.

"Innovation and imagination is the name of the game," he added. "This is a stretching challenge but one that is necessary if we are to tackle the problems we face in terms of housing shortage and buyers being priced out of the market," he said.

Mr Prescott also revealed that council and housing association tenants with joint incomes below £15,000 in the North of England and £20,000 in the South East could be eligible to buy a share of their home under the Social HomeBuy shared-equity scheme.

The Government has been considering an extension to its HomeBuy schemes, with a consultation due to close later this month.

The Deputy Prime Minister said: "Social HomeBuy will help tenants into partial home ownership and with the money they pay being used to reinvest in new social housing. This will make available sooner for families in temporary accommodation and on council waiting lists new homes."

Other efforts to help first-time buyers have included raising the stamp duty nil threshold meaning thousands more homeowners would not pay stamp duty when buying a house.

However, the Conservatives have accused the Government of taxing Britain out of home ownership through council tax hikes, failing to act quickly enough on stamp duty and slashing Right to Buy discounts.

See the ODPM website for the list of successful bidders.

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