CITIES are ‘awash’ with housing cash while villages and towns miss out, a new report claims. It calls for more funding for the building of new homes in England’s towns, counties and districts and claims cities are unfairly prioritised when it comes to allocating resources.

In its report From the Shores to the Shires the Housing and Finance Institute claims big cities and metropolitan areas are only responsible for building 30 per cent of new homes, despite the fact they receive more of the cash. Meanwhile 70 per cent of new homes that are being built and homes that have been granted permission to be built are in district and unitary councils.

The institute is calling for funding for the building of these new homes to be allocated more fairly across the country. It highlights the fact that London has secured £600 million funding for building homes in housing zones. This compares to £6.3 million allocated for the whole of the rest of England in the same period.

Natalie Elphicke OBE, chief executive of the Housing and Finance Institute, said: “Following the EU referendum it is clear that things need to change if we are going to succeed in building a Britain that works for everyone. This must include rewarding energetic councils across England who toil to make the housing difference, but who don’t have the comfortable cash flow or big balance sheets of the largest cities and housing associations.

“Change is afoot in our coastal communities, the country villages and market towns, the post-industrial heartlands and historic cities and counties of England. There is an ambition to build and shape housing choice for local communities. Too often it has been the noisy major metropolitan cities or the massive housing associations already awash with cash who ask for even more.

“Yet the beating heart of sustainable housing delivery is in the counties, ordinary towns and districts of England. It’s time to harness the energy across the country in building homes and regenerating communities. The government needs to put more of its housing money where the opportunity to deliver is and that means right across the country.”

The report makes recommendations for how local authorities can access more resources for building new homes. It calls for local councils to be able to keep the cash from any valuable homes they sell, to be exempt from the tax on high value assets and to be given extra cash and support if they can show that they will deliver more homes.

Elphicke said: “It isn’t the case in housing delivery that biggest is best as some of our coastal communities, country villages and market towns, post-industrial heartlands together with historic cities and counties of England are absolutely brilliant at making housing delivery happen and are delivering the majority of our new homes.

“If a council knows what it is doing and is doing a good job in housing delivery, government should give it greater support and resources. That should apply to smaller councils too.”

The institute has published a new book which aims to providing councils with a strategy for building more homes more quickly.