Shapps opens up second wave of stalled site cash

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

The housing minister Grant Shapps is opening up remaining money in the £570 million Get Britain Building fund to smaller housebuilders in a bid to help unlock stalled sites.

The fund was announced at the end of last year to restart work on stalled sites with planning permission with the aim of delivering more than 15,000 new homes.

Mr Shapps said more than £100 million is available which he hopes will deliver up to 2,000 new homes.

The scheme operates by making loans available to projects on commercial rates or by taking equity stakes in order to share risk.

Shapps is opening up the remaining money in the fund so the loan lifeline is also available to smaller builders after other developers later found they could build without the fund.

Previously, builders bidding for cash had to have plans for at least 25 homes on their sites. Now, to help smaller firms bid for funding, the minister has lowered the bar to 15 homes. Shapps stressed, however, that larger developers can still bid.

Mr Shapps said: “By spreading the net wider and boosting the number of eligible sites we can offer more help to builders both large and small.

“We saw huge appetite last time for this funding but some developers later found they could build without the fund.  We need to be sure every single pound of taxpayers’ money works as hard as it can so we can get as many homes as possible out of Get Britain Building. That is why I’m inviting further bids.

“We’ve already started seeing the benefits this is bringing to the industry and the economy as a whole. I now want to see as many firms as possible grabbing this opportunity to get the diggers back on site.”

Up to 15% of the total funding may be allocated to schemes commissioned through the Homes and Communities Agency.

The deadline for applications is 12pm, 25 July 2012.