Shrewsbury receives £1.7 million
Shrewsbury receives £1.7 million Kickstart funding boost for 50 new homes in Ditherington
John Healey MP, Labour’s Minister of State for Housing, today announced that Shrewsbury will receive £1,792,500 of government funding to Kickstart stalled construction sites. Kickstart provides funding to restart mothballed building projects.
John Healey MP, Labour’s Minister of State for Housing said: “Today’s announcement is another solid example of the Labour Government using the power of public investment in tough economic times to build the homes we need, support the construction industry, and create jobs and apprenticeships.
Our investment in and commitment to bringing forward the new housing that Britain needs stands in contrast to the Tories. They want to make it harder to build new homes and this year alone they would have cut a massive £800 million from housing funding.”
This funding will mean 50 more houses being built in Ditherington. The project is one of 54 authorised today having passed tough value for money tests to receive a share of £147 million nationwide. This is on top of 61 other schemes already approved, which takes total Government investment through Kickstart so far to £448 million to deliver over 11,000 homes.
Jon Tandy, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Shrewsbury said:
“This is great news for Ditherington and Shrewsbury. It will provide new homes, save jobs, provide apprenticeships and help local families to get a home of their own. These are Labour values in action – in our area, supporting hard working people through the recession, offering everyone, not just the privileged few, the chance to succeed.”
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Editor’s Notes
To ensure the Government gets the most for every taxpayer’s pound the funding comes with tough terms. Over two thirds of the money is expected to be repaid with less than a fifth consisting of direct grant to support developers and the rest used to fund affordable homes as part of the Kickstart programme. Only developers who have accepted a realistic current market price for their land have been eligible for this investment.
Apprenticeships and local recruitment are also part of the assessment criteria for Government support. 70% of the approved projects offer apprenticeship and local labour schemes.
