Councils can now bid to for a share of the ‘capacity fund’ used to address planning issues that can cause delay.

It is expected that the fund will speed up the construction of up to 800,000 homes and large infrastructure projects across England.

Also announced was the creation of six new housing zones to support the development of 10,000 new homes on brownfield land.

The six new housing zones are:

• Sheffield Housing Zone, South Yorkshire
• North East Lincolnshire Urban Housing Zone – with sites in Grimsby and Cleethorpes
• Hoyland-Wombwell Strategic Housing Zone, Barnsley, South Yorkshire
• Sandwell Housing Zone, Sandwell, West Midlands
• Pennine-Lancashire Housing Zone – with sites in Blackburn and Burnley
• Wirral Waters Housing Zone, Merseyside

Support and funding has been put in place for a new garden town at Otterpool Park, Shepway in Kent, which is expected to deliver up to 12,000 new homes.

Some £750,000 will be provided to the Otterpool Park scheme and an additional £1.5m will go to support other garden towns and communities in Bicester, Didcot, Basingstoke, north Essex and north Northamptonshire.

Mr Barwell said: “We want to turbo-charge housebuilding on large sites to get the homes built in the places people want to live, so that this country works for everyone, not just the privileged few.

“These sites offer enormous potential to transform brownfield land into new homes and our £18m funding will help get them built much sooner.

“Furthermore, we are getting behind plans for a new garden town which offers a unique opportunity to boost the local economy, jobs and provide new homes in Shepway, Kent.”