A Government scheme to get builders back on stalled sites and work restarted on homes has had an overwhelming response and is three times oversubscribed, Housing Minister Grant Shapps has revealed.

The £420 million Get Britain Building fund is a key tenet of the Housing Strategy. Launched just two months ago, the Get Britain Building fund has seen a total of 176 expressions of interest - meaning the programme is now three times oversubscribed.

Mr Shapps argued that the short, simple and straightforward application process has made it easier for smaller building companies, as well as larger developers, to bid for funding.

Taken together, the bids received so far cover 392 individual sites. But overall, this £420million investment is expected to unlock the building of up to 16,000 homes on sites that are currently stalled - creating up to 30,000 jobs in construction and related industries by 2014.

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Mr Shapps also published details of 18 of the most important local housing sites that subject to due diligence and contracting could benefit from Government cash to get builders back to work.

The Minister confirmed that these 18 developments will go to the next stage of assessment for £45million funding from this scheme to get workers back on site and deliver 1,300 new homes.

Mr Shapps said: "With the Prime Minister putting housing centre stage in the road to economic recovery we are pulling out all the stops to get the jobs created and the red tape cut to ensure we get the homes this country needs built.

"So I am greatly encouraged by the clamour from developers large and small to get Britain building by applying for a share of our £420 million fund to unlock stalled sites across the country.

"I can confirm that 18 of the most difficult sites have already been identified to potentially share £45million to resolve the issues they face, get builders back on site and over 1,300 homes built. I look forward to seeing the results of the competition and the houses that result."

(CD/DW)