The UK Government is investing over £1.9 billion to help unlock potential housing sites across the UK.

With issues such as land contamination, infrastructure requirements, and complex land ownership presenting real barriers to building homes, the Government has launched two new investment streams to help deliver 300,000 new homes a year by the mid 2020s; the Land Assembly Fund and the Small Sites Fund.

The £1.3bn Land Assembly Fund will be used to acquire land needing work and get it ready for the market, making it less risky for developers to invest in and start building.

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The £630m Small Sites Fund will be used by public land owners or local authorities that are struggling to get building on land in their area, providing grant funding to speed up getting the right infrastructure in place.

The government will work closely with the Greater London Authority to help ensure targeted funding through the Land Assembly Fund and Small Sites Fund can deliver additional homes in the capital.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, said: "We need to act on a number of fronts to build the homes this country needs.

"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 now 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."

(LM/CM)