The Press Association: Housing scheme 'aids richer areas'

The Press Association: Housing scheme 'aids richer areas'

Better-off parts of the country are benefiting by up to a fifth more than deprived neighbourhoods from a Government fund to encourage more homes to be built, Labour said.

Shadow housing minister Alison Seabeck said her research - confirmed by Commons officials - shows there is a 20% gap between the cash received by the 10 richest and 10 poorest local councils.

Under the New Homes Bonus initiative, the Government matches the council tax raised through new homes for the first six years, with councils receiving up to 36% more for affordable homes. But Labour said the result is an "unfair" distribution of the extra cash.

Richmondshire, in Foreign Secretary William Hague's Yorkshire constituency, qualified for £56,449 for adding nine homes while Scarborough could claim only £7,356 for adding nearly three times as many, Ms Seabeck said.