‘First Garden City for 100 Years'

George Osborne has announced the creation of what the government is describing as Britain's first garden city for almost 100 years, by the Thames Estuary at Ebbsfleet.  The chancellor said that initially 15,000 homes would be built on the site, which has been chosen partly because a high-speed rail connection puts it within 19 minutes of central London. Osborne also said he would use his budget on Wednesday to extend one of the government's two Help to Buy schemes. He will pledge £6bn to extend the equity loan scheme to 2020, funding the construction of a further 120,000 homes. Read more on the Guardian website.