UK
Ireland
Scotland
London
Housing Minister Grant Shapps has announced the latest installment of powerful cash bonuses for communities who have built new homes.
The Minister announced that the second year of cash payments through the New Homes Bonus would total over £430 million, more than double the first year's payment.
Funding will be shared by 353 councils for helping to deliver nearly 159,000 homes last year - either new homes or empty properties brought back into use - and from a second round of payments for homes built the year before.
Through the New Homes Bonus extra funding is provided to local areas that have built more homes and brought empty homes back into use. Council tax raised from new homes is matched by the Government for the first six years, and affordable homes attract a higher payment.
This year's larger payment includes £210 million for new and empty homes delivered in 2010 -11, a second instalment of almost £200 million for homes built in 2009 -10, and the first premium for affordable homes totalling £20 million.
Mr Shapps said: "For years communities fought against development because they saw no evidence of how it improved their lives. Their experience of housebuilding under the old system of top-down targets amounted to the wrong homes being built where they weren't wanted, and their concerns about extra pressure on local services ignored.
"But there is a culture shift taking place across the country - communities that are going for growth are reaping rewards for their local area, and councillors can now lead a mature debate about the benefits of development.
"The bonus payments for new homes last for six years - so this year's bonus is more than double the payment from year one, and it's why communities that continue to welcome new homes can expect to see bigger cash bonuses and improved local services in the future."
The New Homes Bonus underpins many of the measures in the Government's radical new Housing Strategy, which will tackle issues across the housing market, from boosting supply and making it easier to secure mortgages on new homes, to ensuring homes that have been left empty for years are lived in once again.
(CD)
