Cash boost to help build 200,000 homes in new garden towns

A £9m cash injection to speed up the locally-led building of new garden towns and villages across the country has been announced, including a site in Knowsley, Merseyside, as well as in Cheshire and Lancaster.

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.

The Government project is helping ambitious councils get well-designed homes built on large sites, and the money will help pay for master-planning and technical studies.

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

Housing Minister Kit Malthouse MP 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 developments being funded include a 1,589-home site in Halsnead, Knowsley, which has been granted £300,000 from the Government.

Bailrigg, in Lancaster, has been awarded £100,000 to build 3,500 homes. Handforth, in Cheshire, has received £150,000 for its tartet of 1,650, homes, while the Infinity site, in Derbyshire, has also received £150,000 to build 3,200 homes.