Government's £18m grant to councils to 'turbo-charge' home building is attacked as 'a drop in the ocean'

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Plans to offer £18million to councils in England to speed up the construction of up to 800,000 homes on large developments came in for criticism today.

The proposals will allow local authorities to bid for the Government funding to help tackle planning issues that can hold up projects.

However, housing experts described the funds as 'a drop in the ocean' with suggestions of 800,000 new homes defined as a 'tall order'.

Plans have been announced to offer £18million to councils in England to speed up the construction of up to 800,000 homes on large developments

For Labour, shadow housing secretary John Healey said the additional funding was 'a drop in the ocean' compared to the scale of the housing 'crisis'. 

'Ministers are set to spend around £2billion less this year on housing than under Labour. So an £18million fund won't come anywhere near compensating for previous short-sighted cuts,' he said.

Andrew Montlake, director of mortgage brokers Coreco, said: 'Policies like this are course welcome and to be commended, but 800,000 new homes seems to be a very tall order given the lamentable levels we have seen in the past.

'The idea is one thing, but getting the construction workers, builders and materials to do this may well be another. The pricing of these new homes will also be key in order to ensure hat they are affordable to those who need them most, such as key workers.'

If follows estate agents warning earlier this week that a'dire shortage' of homes for sale is pushing house prices even higher.

The monthly report form the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said that the number of homes coming on to the market continued to decline last month, even while new enquiries from buyers rose by 10 per cent.

This is thwarting home buyers and driving house prices up across England and Wales, although the study found that the London property market recorded its eighth consecutive monthly fall.     

 Housing experts have described the Government's funds as 'a drop in the ocean'

Housing Minister Gavin Barwell has also announced the creation of six new housing zones to support the development of 10,000 new homes on brownfield sites, as well as government support for the new Otterpool Park garden town in Shepway, Kent.

'We want to turbo-charge house building on large sites to get the homes built in the places people want to live, so that this country works for everyone, not just the privileged few,' Mr Barwell said.

The new housing zones are the Sheffield Housing Zone; the North East Lincolnshire Urban Housing Zone, with sites in Grimsby and Cleethorpes; the Hoyland-Wombwell Strategic Housing Zone in Barnsley, South Yorkshire; the Sandwell Housing Zone in the West Midlands; the Pennine-Lancashire Housing Zone with sites in Blackburn and Burnley; and the Wirral Waters Housing Zone in Merseyside.