Government Unveils New House Building Fund

Housing minister Gavin Barwell has revealed that the government has set up a new £18 million fund to support house building.

The aim is to speed up construction on large sites that will provide thousands of homes for people in areas where they want to live.

Local councils are being invited to bid for a share of the funding that they can then put towards dealing with planning delays, which are one of the main reasons why builders are unable to start work on sites quickly.

The government hopes the additional cash will help speed up the delivery of 800,000 homes, and the associated infrastructure, on large sites across England. Boosting construction projects will be of benefit to rebar suppliers and others working in the sector.

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

The additional money is just one measure the government is using to tackle the slump in house building activity in the country, with other initiatives including the creation of six new housing zones to support development on brownfield sites, and support and funding for a new locally led garden town in Shipwey, Kent, that will provide up to 12,000 new homes.

This comes as the Office for National Statistics revealed that the construction industry saw output fall in the third quarter of this year, compared to the previous three months.

Between July and September, activity dropped by 1.1% compared to the period between April and June.