200,000 low-cost homes for public land

Government-owned land next to London stations is to be used for housing under a new nationwide scheme to provide up to 200,000 low-cost homes.

Chancellor Gordon Brown and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott today unveiled the plan to use former NHS, Ministry of Defence and other public sector sites to meet Britain's housing shortage.

Mr Brown and Mr Prescott confirmed that affordable homes will be built on nearly 100 surplus health service sites, including three new developments in the South-East.

Vacant public sector sites next to London railway stations are among a further 700 sites earmarked, they announced.

The ministers unveiled the schemes as they published a pamphlet outlining plans to extend home ownership across all social classes. But Mr Prescott's drive to build new homes came under fire today from Prince Charles who criticised government schemes to demolish Victorian terraces in the North and Midlands.

In an outspoken attack on Labour policy, the Prince was set to criticise moves to bulldoze "old, historic, characterful buildings" which would cost far less to renovate.

Former Beatle Ringo Starr has already attacked plans to knock down his former Liverpool home.

Mr Prescott was expected to shrug off the royal intervention today when he appeared alongside Mr Brown in Belsize Park to praise the restoration of an iconic Thirties housing block for key public sector workers.

The Isokon building, once home to Agatha Christie, includes flats which have been sold to nurses and other workers under a shared ownership scheme.

Mr Prescott announced three new public sector sites as part of his project to build homes at a construction cost of ?60,000 each. The sites, all ex-NHS land, are in Newport Pagnell, Basingstoke and Maidstone. They will provide nearly 1,000 homes, with 400 for first-time buyers.

Moves to boost housing supply are seen by ministers as crucial to the Government's election pledge to help more people on to the property ladder. Mr Prescott was set to announce that some 200,000 new homes have been built in the past year, the highest total for more than a decade.

The Chancellor was also keen to hail fresh moves to streamline planning procedures to allow more homes to be built.

Mr Brown said: "We are determined to build on the one million more home owners since 1997 to reach two million by 2010.

"In this year's Budget I doubled the starting threshold for stamp duty on homes to £120,000, ensuring that over 50 per cent of first-time buyers do not pay stamp duty."