Just before Christmas, Housing Minister John Healey announced that communities across the North and Midlands will share £311m this year to boost work already underway to transform homes and regenerate communities.

Today's housing funding will also protect and create over 1,000 jobs and apprenticeships in the construction industry.

It is on top of a total of £1.7 billion funding to build new homes that John Healey has announced since June – supporting the construction industry through the recession, creating jobs and apprenticeships and helping to tackle the shortage of affordable homes.  This funding has helped councils build more homes and kick-start stalled housebuilding projects, including over £76m across the twelve Pathfinder areas.

Since 2002 the Housing Market Renewal programme has tackled severe housing market failure in parts of the North and Midlands, in places where prices had collapsed and there was widespread abandonment. 

£2.2bn has been invested so far in regenerating towns across the 12 Pathfinders, including refurbishing almost 60,000 homes for around 140,000 people. 

This next wave of funding will help renovate a further 6,500 homes for around 15,000 people.

Housing Minister John Healey said:

We're investing billions of pounds across the country building new homes the country needs and helping to tackle the shortage of affordable housing. But we must also continue our drive to bring existing homes and communities back up to scratch in parts of the country that previously lagged behind the rest.

I am today backing these towns with £311m to transform themselves into the sorts of attractive communities that will bring people back to live there and provide much needed new homes. Crucially it will improve the quality of life and the neighbourhoods for those people stuck, unable to sell their homes, in these abandoned streets.

At the same time this power of government investment will also support the construction industry during the recession, create opportunities for local workers and apprentices to learn a trade.

There are twelve Housing Market Renewal (HMR) areas: Birmingham/Sandwell, East Lancashire, Hull & East Riding, Manchester/Salford, Merseyside, Newcastle/Gateshead, North Staffordshire, Oldham Rochdale, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, West Cumbria and West Yorkshire.

All twelve areas have had to prove they will deliver value for money, judged on factors such as housebuilding and refurbishment levels and – for the first time – on the numbers of jobs and apprenticeships this funding would create locally, and how this will support economic recovery. 

The £311m is planned to be distributed across the Pathfinder areas as follows:

• Birmingham Sandwell: £11m
• East Lancashire: £48m
• Hull and East Riding: £28m
• Manchester Salford: £42m
• Merseyside: £47m
• Newcastle Gateshead: £29m
• North Staffordshire: £36m
• Oldham Rochdale: £28m
• South Yorkshire (includes West Yorkshire funding): £31m
• Tees Valley: £10m
• West Cumbria: £1m

Robert Napier, chairman of the HCA, said:

The Pathfinders have proven that they have the power to transform their areas, removing blight and refurbishing swathes of empty properties. So I welcome Government's confirmation of this funding, which will allow us to continue our work in places where we have made important commitments to local people.

Source: Central Office of Information