Government to Give House Building a £10bn Boost

Chancellor George Osborne will reveal plans to offer £10 billion to support the building of new homes.  The money, which is expected to come in the form of loan guarantees for housing associations and developers, is part of a wider £50 billion economic stimulus package. Mr Osborne told the BBC that the government will bring in ‘a specific piece of legislation so the government can use the low interest rates we’ve earned to underwrite construction projects, including house building’. The package is also likely to include further measures to speed up the planning process by cutting the length of planning enquiries and judicial reviews, which could signal a move to allowing more development on green belt land. This follows the introduction of the national planning policy framework last year but the chancellor said he would not ‘tear up’ the NPPF.  Read more on Inside Housing.