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Ministers have launched two funds aimed at preparing sites for housing worth a combined £1.9bn.
The £1.3bn Land Assembly Fund, first announced by chancellor Philip Hammond at the Autumn Budget, is intended to resolve issues on potential development sites such as contamination, a lack of infrastructure or landownership disputes.
It will be used to buy land which needs work and make it ready for market, so that building can start more quickly.
The £630m Small Sites Fund, also launched today, will provide local authorities and other public landowners with grant to speed up delivery of infrastructure projects for smaller schemes that have stalled.
Housing and communities secretary James Brokenshire said: “The availability of this investment will help us intervene in the sort of sites that aren’t yet ready to build on, or where developers have been put off.
“Developers can get straight on with building homes, rather than overcoming the barriers to build.
“And in the same way we are also supporting councils that have land for housing, but need additional help to enable development.”
Homes England, the government’s housing agency, will manage the investment outside of London, while the Greater London Authority will administer the two funds in the capital.
Sir Edward Lister, chair of Homes England, said: “Homes England is stepping in where the market isn’t working, unlocking land and releasing sites to those developers that are committed to providing homes at pace.
“The £1.9bn announced by the government today will mean we can invest in crucial infrastructure and help local authorities to get more homes built on public land.”