A £3bn fund to boost the house building programme has been launched by communities secretary Sajid Javid.

Mr Javid devoted his first major speech to housing with only a passing reference to the devolution agenda.

The programme includes accelerated development on publicly owned land.

Mr Javid said 170,000 homes were built last year and 280,000 planning permissions which he said was 'not bad but we need to do better.'

He added: 'We have a responsibility to build more houses. Local leaders must be prepared to make difficult calls.'

Mr Javid promised to 'continue with our ambitious devolution agenda' and praised elected mayors singling out ex John Lewis MD Andy Street who has been selected Tory mayoral candidate for the West Midlands.