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Ministers have announced the allocations for the £15.8m first wave of a fund aimed at speeding up planning decisions.
The Planning Delivery Fund money has been awarded to 68 successful bids from local authorities across England.
It is intended to help the councils process more applications, train new planners and implement reforms to their planning policies.
Click here for the full list of allocations
Funding has been allocated to those working on ambitious planning projects and strategies, often in combination with other local authorities.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said the cash would help promote innovation within council planning departments and drive up the quality of new housing by improving expertise.
Councils submitted 383 bids for the funding between its 4 December announcement date and the 11 January deadline.
Housing minister Dominic Raab said: “This cash boost ensures councils have the resources needed to make quicker decisions on planning applications, delivering quality housing at a faster rate.
“It’s part of our strategy to build the homes this country needs whilst also supporting residents to have their say on the kind of development that takes place in their area.”
The funding has been split into three streams, to be handed out between now and 2019: the Joint Working Fund (worth £9.4m), the Design Quality Fund (£4.82m) and the Promoting Innovation Fund (£1.07m).
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority won the largest chunk of funding, with £950,000 awarded to fund its new Place Team and Mayoral Development Corporations.
MHCLG will hold another round of bidding for the remaining £9.2m in the Planning Delivery Fund, to be distributed in 2019/20.