The government has unveiled a £150m fund for infrastructure to serve housing in the four growth areas.

The community infrastructure fund, announced in the 2004 spending review, will support transport schemes that allow housing to go ahead in the Thames Gateway, M11 corridor, Ashford and the Milton Keynes areas.

It is believed to be the first time that a transport fund has been so tightly tied to housing provision.

The money has to be spent by April 2008. Sources said the deadlines were extremely tight for transport projects, which can be time-consuming.

The fund was originally £200m but £34m was top-sliced to fund tram schemes in London. The London section of the Thames Gateway is believed to have bid for £72m from the remaining fund.

John Onslow, director for development at Cambridgeshire Horizons, the infrastructure partnership for the area, welcomed the strong link between transport and housing. But he added: “We have £2bn infrastructure requirement in the Cambridgeshire subregion so we need more to come including transport, education, utilities and so on.”

Source

Housing Today

Postscript

An announcement on the breakdown of housing funding for the regions is set to be made next Thursday.