The money would be used to "unlock barriers to investment" and would also "leverage private investment" to effectively "de-risk" stalled projects and get them moving, Clegg said in a speech to the National House-Building Council today.
Clegg said the Government had identified a number of stalled major housing projects ranging from 4,000 to 9,500 homes in size and that it was "intervening directly" to unblock these schemes and deliver up to 48,600 homes.
"The sites have been held up for various reasons: cash-flow problems following the banking crash; bureaucracy and licensing issues, a lack of upfront investment for infrastructure. Some for up to 10 years," said Clegg. "And while all of them have strong local supporters, their communities are, understandably, becoming frustrated by these delays."
"So we will unlock the barriers to investment. We will make sure that bureaucracy does not hold back these developments: bringing partners together to get action on the ground. And, where investment is required, I can announce new funding. We will provide £225m of Government money which will also leverage private investment to effectively de-risk these or similar projects and get them moving," he said.
Clegg said the Government would work with prospective developments and ensure that "any public sector investment secures value for money from the taxpayer and once these developments are complete, the taxpayer will get that money back".
Clegg also said he wanted the Government to offer large scale housing projects "real financial freedoms". He said that Councils had told him that the Government's tax increment financing schemes, which give local authorities the power to borrow against future business rate revenues, had been a "massive help" in raising investment for local infrastructure.
"I’m very keen that we look at these kinds of financial freedoms in the context of new garden cities and suburbs too," Clegg said. He said the Government will be setting out the "precise process" shortly and that it will be "crucial" that the process is "locally-led".
