Kickstart grant 'vital for homes scheme'

Plans to build 70 new council homes in Park Street, Wombwell, Barnsley, have been drawn up for months, but work could not begin because the developers were struggling.

John Healey, the housing Minister and MP for Rotherham constituency Wentworth, visited the site yesterday to meet those involved in the work including building apprentices.

The Minister said it was unlikely that work would have started on the site in the near future without the assistance of a 3.7m grant from the Government's Kickstart Fund.

Kickstart was announced in the 2009 budget and is designed to support the house building industry by providing grants towards what Whitehall calls "mixed-tenure" developments.

The project at Wombwell will provide 74 houses, 49 of which will be available for "affordable rents" which will be set by a social housing association or the local council.

Mr Healey said: "The power of Government investment is building the homes this country needs and supporting the construction industry at a time when it needs it most.

"Park Street was stalled by the recession but workers are back on site today to build over 70 new homes.

"This Kickstart cash is getting construction workers back on site and supporting the training of a new generation of builders. With Government investment since June at over 2.8bn,

what I've seen today illustrates how this boost for house-building is getting Britain back to work."

During his visit, the Minister met Chris McGreavy from Thrybergh, Rotherham, and Ben Bowen from Jump, Barnsley, two apprentices taking part in a training scheme being run by the housebuilder Ben Bailey Ltd.

The pair told Mr Healey about their training on other sites and told him what apprentices who are set to be working at Park Street can expect.

Kickstart funding has also been granted to other sites in South Yorkshire, including a 3.8m grant for a project at Askern Road in the Doncaster village of Toll Bar, which was hit hard during the 2007 floods.

Earlier this year the Government also announced that a further ten schemes had been shortlisted for round two of the Kickstart scheme, including projects in Sheffield city centre, Grimethorpe near Barnsley and Manvers, near Rotherham.