The Government has announced nearly £2bn investment to help unlock development and overcome barriers to building new homes.

The £1.3bn Land Assembly Fund will be used to acquire land needing work and get it ready for market. Local authorities will also be able to access £630m from the Small Sites Fund to speed up development on stalled small sites.

The two investment streams are expected to release enough land to deliver 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.

Communities secretary, James Brokenshire, said: ‘The availability of this investment will help us intervene in the sort of sites that aren’t yet ready to build on, or where developers have been put off.

‘Developers can now get straight on with building homes, rather than overcoming the barriers to build. And in the same way we are also supporting councils that have land for housing, but need additional help to enable development.’