Basingstoke nets cash boost for building new homes (From Andover Advertiser)

Basingstoke nets cash boost for building new homes

1:00pm Sunday 13th January 2013 in Basingstoke By Adam Richards

BASINGSTOKE has netted just short of £1million in the latest round of Government payments given for building new homes.

The borough council is to receive £943,717 in New Homes Bonus from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Basingstoke and Deane will receive more money than any other district authority in Hampshire.

The cash will be used on infrastructure projects such as the revamping of Black Dam Roundabout.

The Government-funded bonus varies each year according to the number of new homes granted planning permission, how many empty homes are bought back into use, as well as an extra payment for the number of affordable homes built.

This is the third year of the six-year scheme, which has been billed as a Government reward to councils for encouraging new developments. So far, the borough has been handed £3.5m, including the new payment.

Government housing minister Mark Prisk said: “For years, developers found themselves at loggerheads with communities, unconvinced that their plans for growth would benefit them. But the New Homes Bonus is turning this around.”

According to the strategy approved by the borough Cabinet last year, 80 per cent of the bonus money will fund infrastructure projects. The remaining 20 per cent will support council-run services such as waste collection.

Councillor John Izett, borough Cabinet member for property and finance, said: “We are putting our capital resources to good use by investing in the local economy and carrying out much needed infrastructure work, such as the M3 junction 6 and Black Dam improvements.”