£3.12m Kickstart for Corby

Last week saw another £3,125,650 Kickstart Funding for 67 more affordable new homes in Corby.

Housing Minister John Healey has announced an additional £263 million kickstart funding for stalled housing developments, including £3,125,650 for 67 new homes
in Corby.

Phil Hope MP said:
“I am delighted that John Healey has given the green light for more ‘kickstart’ funding for Corby. This investment will mean more local jobs and  apprenticeships for the town and will help to guarantee our economic recovery and future growth.

“The recovery is still fragile, I really believe that the Government’s strategy to invest and keep Britain building is the best way forward for families and businesses alike.”

Simon Evans, Chief Executive of NNDC said:
"This is great news for local people looking to access affordable homes and make the difficult first step on to the property ladder. It will also deliver more job opportunities for both skilled construction workers looking to get back to work as well as apprentices starting out on their careers. NNDC continues to work with local authority partners and private developers to convert further Kickstart opportunities and other funding bids into such significant investment in local jobs and housing starts.”

Mr Healey announced a total of £263 million additional funding for new affordable homes and to kickstart stalled developments, as well as three new publicly-owned sites to be made available for housebuilding under the Public Land Initiative.

The Housing Minister also confirmed that every one of the 141 stalled housebuilding sites in the first round of the Government’s Kickstart funding now have workers back on site building over 10,000 new homes.

Since June, John Healey has given the go-ahead for over £4.2billion Government investment for councils, housing associations and private developers to build over 75,000 much-needed new homes across the country.

This cash injection will create and safeguard 88,000 new jobs and 3,000 apprenticeships. However, all organisations receiving Government funding are required to provide local jobs and apprenticeships, meaning that even more employment opportunities are in the pipeline.

Every region has benefited from this Government cash boost for housing during
the recession.

John Healey said:
“From Barnsley to Brighton, the power of Government investment has meant that in the teeth of recession, we have kept Britain building. That’s why today I can confirm I’ve given the go-ahead for £263million to create and safeguard 5,500 jobs, build much-needed new homes and help strengthen the economic recovery.

“We’ve been ready to take unprecedented Government steps to help the country through the recession and today’s extra funding takes total Government housing cash to over £4.2billion since June. This investment will now help economic recovery in every region of the country.

“This public investment has been a vital boost to jobs and housebuilding during the recession, and it’s equally important to economic growth in the future. We can’t cut our way into economic recovery over the coming year - we must invest in building the new homes that people need.”

Through the £4.2 billion funding boost Mr Healey has launched the biggest council house building programme for nearly two decades, given cash to kickstart work on 252 private sites and introduced a new deal for developers to build on public land.

Government investment in housing associations, councils and other developers since June means over 55,000 new affordable homes will be built for rent or sale through the Government’s help for first time buyers.

The new money confirmed today includes:

· £236m for housing associations and others to build over 4,300 new homes,

1 £27.5m for 24 kickstart sites,
2 Three new sites under the new Public Land Initiative at:.

Telford - Lightmoor Urban Village – 100 homes are planned for the site, 30 of which will be affordable. Work is due to start in November 2010.

Tower Hamlets - Mildmay Regeneration Project – 139 homes are planned for the site, of which 49 will be affordable. Work is due to begin in August 2010, subject to planning permission.

Birmingham– six sites owned by the city council – 230 homes are planned, of which 80 will be affordable. Work is due to start in September 2010.

Mr Healey has also today given the go-ahead for £27.5m Government funding for 24 stalled housing developments through the second round of the Kickstart programme,
to get building work back on track and workers back on site. By region, this breaks down as:

Three projects in London have already been allocated over £5 million under Round 2 of Kickstart, with more in the pipeline for approval.

This comes on top of 141 schemes that have already benefited from £424 million funding through the first round of Kickstart. From today, every one of these previously stalled developments is now getting back on track. A further 87 schemes have already been allocated nearly £83m under Kickstart round two.

The Housing Minister has also confirmed that three new sites will be made available under the Public Land Initiative. This new deal for housebuilders makes publicly owned land available for house-building, but takes out the upfront costs and risks involved in site purchase and preparation. It also looks to secure pre-sales, meaning better operating costs for the housebuilders and attracting non-traditional developers to the housing industry. The new sites announced today are in addition to the first sites made available under the Public Land Initiative in Doncaster, Milton Keynes and Newcastle.