Cooper offers councils £500m housing incentive
Govt encouraging councils to assist in housing project.
Friday, 14, Sep 2007 12:00
Housing minister Yvette Cooper today announced a £500 million scheme designed to ensure housing requirements of families and first-time buyers are met.
The new Housing and Planning Delivery Grant (HPDG) will reward councils which speed-up the delivery of affordable housing and maximise the land available for development.
Councils which demonstrate they are assisting the government in its target to build 240,000 new homes a year by 2016 will receive the largest percentage of the new grant.
Particular incentives will be handed out for environmentally friendly homes built on brownfield sites.
Speaking to the BBC today, Ms Cooper said: "We need to build an extra two million homes by 2016 because we do have an ageing, growing population. We need more affordable homes because you see young families not able to get on the ladder.
"What this money’s about is giving extra support for those communities and councils that are doing their bit."
Some progress has already been made in meeting the government's target.
Some 200 disused public sector sites have been identified as viable spaces for new homes, bringing the total of brownfield sites currently under assessment for development to 750.
Commenting on the scheme Nigel Hugill chairman of Lend Lease Europe, said: "I think it's a change in the new Labour administration, in a sense that previously…local authorities were berated for not meeting targets, but they weren't much encouraged.
"I think there's now a shift in trying to reward those local authorities where there is a clear, demonstrable increase in housing numbers with additional money."
To receive the grant councils will have to identify five years' worth of sites ready for development along with a further ten years worth for future development.
Ms Cooper explained: "Some of them are doing a lot of work to support additional housing, but we know that others really need to do more.
“I want this new cash injection to push local authorities to raise their game".