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John Healey: Kickstart cash boost to get as many as 12,000 workers and apprentices back on site

Published	16 December 2009

Housing Minister John Healey today announced a further 265 stalled housing developments shortlisted for a share of up to £550m to help get building work on over 22,400 homes back on track and support up to 12,000 jobs - including 1,000 apprentices.

This is the second round of special Kickstart funding and follows £450m already released to build 11,500 homes, with the first of nearly 10,000 workers already back on site.

Projects in every region could benefit from the second round of Kickstart funding announced today, which comes on tough terms. 50 per cent of funding is recoverable by Government and every developer must provide schemes for local labour and apprenticeships.

And with half of the 22,400 shortlisted homes set to be for affordable rent or sale this is a boost for First Time Buyers and prospective housing association tenants - a commitment made in last week's Pre-Budget report.

All the projects will now go through a rigorous final assessment by the Homes and Communities Agency to determine which will get the green light. As this funding is intended to support the housebuilding industry when it needs it most Mr Healey has made clear that one of the key factors will be the ability to complete building work by March 2012.

John Healey said:

"Today I am announcing a further 265 projects shortlisted for a share of up to £550m. This second round of Kickstart funding could build 22,400 homes, support 12,000 jobs, train as many as 1000 apprentices and build a further 11,000 affordable homes.

"We are using the power of Government investment to build homes and support jobs at a time when the housebuilding industry needs it most.

"I'm making it a condition of getting this Government money that all builders offer recruitment of local people and apprenticeship schemes. This means opportunities for 1,000 extra apprentices. With this money we're kickstarting stalled developments, supporting new jobs, training future generations of construction workers and building the quality homes we need."

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

Shortlisted projects include:

• Dolcoath, Cambourne - This mixed use scheme could bring forward up to 95 homes for market sale and affordable rent as part of the wider regeneration of the Cambourne and Redruth area
• Springhead Park, Ebbsfleet - The first phase of a 600-home scheme, the project could bring forward 228 new homes for market sale, affordable rent and low cost home ownership
• Stonebridge, Nottingham - Built on former public sector land this scheme could bring forward up to 95 new homes for sale, affordable rent and intermediate rent to in a priority are for the local housing market. The homes will be built at a high level of energy efficiency.

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

The number of projects shortlisted in each region are below:

Region	Number Projects	Amount of Investment (£'000s)	Number of homes (gross)
East of England	42	£72,982	3487
East Midlands	36	£61,261	1988
London	21	£93,794	3433
North East	14	£27,642	839
North West	51	£72,117	3232
South East	28	£83,269	3637
South West	21	£62,606	2427
West Midlands	29	£45,743	1951
Yorkshire and the Humber	23	£30,160	1488
Total	265	£549,574.00	22482

Notes for editors

1. The full list of development projects shortlisted for Kickstart funding is available from the Homes and Communities Agency.

2. The Kickstart programme is a key part of the Government's investment to help the housing market through the recession. It is designed to unlock housebuilding sites currently unable to proceed and support construction of high quality mixed tenure housing developments.

3. Kickstart cash is being used to get projects that have been mothballed in the current economic climate back on track where developers cannot find any other source of support. 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.

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