Healey kickstarts work on 22,400 homes

Housing Minister John Healey today announced that 270 stalled development projects across the country have been shortlisted for a share of £925m which could help get building work on 22,400 homes back on track and create 20,000 jobs.

Every region has shortlisted projects and will benefit from this major cash injection, part of the Prime Minister’s Housing Pledge announced last month, that will help build the homes the country needs, help the country through the recession and help people into jobs. The projects have been identified by the Homes and Communities Agency through the Kickstart programme.

Mr Healey made clear that this support comes on tough terms. The Government expects almost half the money to be repaid within five years, over one third will go to housing associations and others to help them manage the affordable housing and less than one fifth (18%) consists of direct grant to support developers. Only developers who have accepted a realistic current market price for their land are eligible for Government investment.

All the projects will now go through a rigorous final assessment to determine which get the green light. Key to this will be their ability to start construction this year. But Mr Healey said he wanted to see the first builders back on site in a matter of weeks and will call on successful developers to pull out all the stops so construction can restart as quickly as possible.

Over 8,600 of these homes would be for affordable rent or sale, with two thirds built to a standard well above that required by building regulations helping to cut CO2 emissions and reduce energy bills for the families that live in them.

The Kickstart programme is a key part of the Government’s investment to help combat the recession. It is designed to unlock housebuilding sites currently unable to proceed and support construction of high quality mixed tenure housing developments. Kickstart was announced in this year’s Budget and then expanded last month as part of the Prime Minister’s Housing Pledge as a centrepiece of Building Britain’s Future.

This funding will be used to make projects that have been mothballed in the current economic climate viable and is only being provided where developers cannot get support from other sources. It will boost development funding available, reduce levels of risk associated with projects and help support demand from homebuyers through measures such as Homebuy Direct.

John Healey said:

"We’ve pledged to use the power of Government investment to help Britain through the recession. This billion pound Kickstart programme will get stalled building work back on track, create jobs and help build the quality homes we need.

"Today I’m announcing that 270 housing projects across the country are shortlisted line for a share of £925m. This could kickstart work on up to 22,400 homes and create 20,000 jobs on housebuilding sites that have been mothballed in the recession. Around 8,600 of these homes would be for low cost rent or low cost ownership and two thirds will be built to some of the toughest ever standards helping to reduce CO2 emissions.

"This is not a handout to developers. There are tough terms to this deal including repayment of loans within five years. And only builders who accept a realistic current market price for their land are eligible.

"I want to see builders back on these sites within weeks. So I will be calling on successful developers to pull out all the stops so construction can restart as quickly as possible."

Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, said:

"The response to our bidding process shows the level of appetite and capacity for development which is out there in the house building sector. Despite the economic downturn, demand for new homes remains and with some help, quality schemes can be unlocked, adding to new supply very quickly."

Shortlisted projects include:

• Stanion, an urban extension to Corby, which in the long term is planned to deliver 1,200 homes. Infrastructure is in place but housing development has stalled. There are three shortlisted bids from developers seeking to start development in this area – two of which are at Code Level 3 and two Building for Life Silver.
• An 82-home scheme in the Growth Point in Macclesfield, a high priority under the regional spatial strategy, has bid for funding to deliver a mixture of sale and low cost home ownership homes. The scheme is seeking to achieve Code for Sustainable homes Level 6.
• Crayford Town Hall in Bexley, a site which is no longer required by the local authority and is suitable for housing development. This could deliver up to 145 homes, in a mixture of sale, affordable rent and low cost home ownership. This is expected to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 and Building for Life Silver.
• Alnwick in Northumberland, where the town centre scheme could bring forward up to 93 homes, a mixture of sale, social and intermediate rent – at Code Level 3 – that will also help to deliver town centre regeneration.
• A scheme in north Bristol (in the Growth Point) which could deliver up to 149 homes (a mixture of sale, social rent and low cost home ownership). It will provide considerable benefits to neighbouring communities in Patchway through investment in local community facilities, which includes a new district centre and primary school. The scheme is expected to be Building for Life Silver and Ecohomes Very Good.

All of these will be subject to due diligence to further test their deliverability, risk and financial position.

Region	Number of Projects	Amount of Investment (£’000s)	Number of homes (gross)
East of England	21	£55,171	Up to 1,675
East Midlands	32	£113,757	Up to 2,880
London	25	£171,221	Up to 2,981
North East	26	£82,006	Up to 1,721
North West	54	£134,877	Up to 3,764
South East	26	£109,892	Up to 2,326
South West	25	£65,792	Up to 2,121
West Midlands	35	£109,231	Up to 2,842
Yorkshire / Humber	26	£83,351	Up to 2,088
Total	270	£925,299	Up to 22,398

Mr Healey today also signalled a second wave of Kickstart funding, with a bidding round to start in September, and said that he is ready to back other projects to build thousands of further homes that otherwise would not be completed. Successful second wave projects will be announced later this year.

Building a society for all ages: Choice for older people

The Government is today launching a strategy “Building A Society For All Ages”, to help Britain prepare for our ageing society.

Minister for Pensions and the Ageing Society Angela Eagle said:

“The Government is already taking action so that we can all make the most of the opportunities that longer lives bring. We have fundamentally reformed our pension system, increasing the state pension age and making sure that much greater numbers of people are saving adequately for their retirement. We are outlawing age discrimination in goods, facilities and services and will shortly publish options for reforming care and support. We are now at a demographic tipping point and today’s strategy will build on foundations to equip the UK to meet the needs and aspirations of the future.”

With pensioners now outnumbering school children, the Government is acting to make sure we are all – as individuals and families, as communities and service providers – prepared for the challenges and opportunities ahead.

The strategy, the latest in the series of announcements to follow the publication of the Government's plan for 'Building Britain's Future', draws together action to help individuals, families, businesses, public services and communities respond to demographic change. It follows the Government’s major reforms to respond to demographic change including the Turner reforms to the Pension system, the measures to outlaw age discrimination in the new Equality Bill, and the new Care and Support Green Paper to be published this week.

As part of helping the economy respond to an ageing society, a review of the Default Retirement Age (DRA) will be brought forward to take place next year. Currently employers can require all staff to retire at 65 regardless of their circumstances. The majority of people retire before 65, however 1.3m people choose to work beyond state pension age, and many more say they would work past 65 if their employer permitted it. The Government had previously promised to review the DRA in 2011 to see if it was still needed, but Ministers have brought the review forward to respond to changing demographic and economic circumstances.

Speaking about the Default Retirement Age, Angela went on to say;
“It is time to look again at this. Some people prefer to take early retirement, others prefer to keep working. We want to give older people flexible retirement options. The Government is responding to the changed economic landscape. The different circumstances today - for businesses, and for individuals coming up to retirement - suggest that an earlier review is appropriate. As Britain's demographics change, it is sensible that we have the debate on what works for business and individuals. The retirement laws need to reflect modern social and economic circumstances.”

The Government also believes that more needs to be done to respond to changing families as a result of the ageing society – with grandparents playing a stronger role and more people caring for elderly relatives. Building on the National Insurance measures taken in the budget to help those caring for grandchildren, a summit will take place in the autumn to explore the changing role of grandparents more widely and what more we can do to support them in maintaining strong relationships with their grandchildren after parental separation and divorce.

The Government believes that public services need to make responding to older people part of the mainstream of services and we will also work with local authorities to increase participation in later life by using smartcard technology to provide all-in-one cards giving access to a range of local opportunities. Smart card technology is already used in bus passes; these have the potential to also be used in leisure centres, libraries, sports clubs and other services. We will work with local authorities to test an all in one smart card that provides both central and local government entitlements.

Mid life health checks will be available on the NHS for everyone over 40 to help people prepare for a healthier old age.

Building Britain's Future

I have today published the Government’s plan for Building Britain’s Future. It is a radical vision for a fairer, stronger and more prosperous society for all.

We have made enormous strides, driving up standards of health care and education; cutting crime and poverty; and harnessing Britain’s economic potential.

The country has been transformed and I am proud that Britain is now a better place to live.

But I am determined that in this time of profound change, driven by the global economic downturn and the crisis of trust in our political system, the Government will work even harder for you.

We plan to make public services more accountable: access to a cancer specialist within two weeks, free health-checks for those aged 40-74 and patients entitled to hospital treatment within 18 weeks.

Parents will be guaranteed an education tailored to their child, with a personal tutor for every secondary school pupil and catch up tuition, including one-to-one, for those who need it.

And residents will have the right to hold the police to account at monthly beat meetings, get a say on CCTV and vote on how offenders pay back the community.

All these commitments will come with proper systems of redress if they are not met.

The severe global downturn has threatened our jobs and homes here in the UK, leaving many of you understandably anxious about the future for you and your children.

We will not make the same mistakes of past recessions by losing another generation to work. This is a price we are not prepared to pay. From next spring everyone under 25 who has been out of work for a year will be guaranteed a job, training or work experience place. And they will have to take that offer.

From September every 16 and 17 year old will receive an offer of a school or college place or an apprenticeship.

Carefully targeted investment of an extra £1.5 billion over the next two years will also deliver an additional 20,000 new affordable homes and create 45,000 jobs. And new guidance will allow local authorities more flexibility on how they allocate council houses.

We have already started the process of cleaning up politics and more action will follow to restore confidence in our democratic institutions.
But today is just the start.

And we want to know your ideas on how we build a better future for Britain – one that’s fairer, more prosperous and responsible. I look forward to hearing from you.