Multi-million pound boost to build thousands of homes in new garden towns

A £9m cash injection to speed up the building of new garden towns and villages across the country has been announced.

The Garden Communities project is expected to deliver 200,000 properties on large sites by 2050, and the latest funding will help get 21 sites ready for development.

Longmarston in Stratford is set to benefit from the scheme, with a £300,000 cash boost for 3,500 homes.

The government project aims to help councils get well-designed homes built on large sites, and the money will help pay for master-planning and technical studies.

Work is already underway on 10,000 properties across the country in garden towns and villages, with 36,000 expected to be underway or completed by 2022.

Housing Minister Kit Malthouse said: “We have not built enough homes in this country for the last three decades, and we are turning that around as we work towards our target to build 300,000 properties a year by the mid-2020s.

“This £9m funding boost is giving councils the support and cash injection they need so they can finish planning new developments and get diggers on site.”

The funding will be administered by Homes England.