Jim O'Keeffe
Question:36 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the proposals, if any, he has to make serviced sites available to first time buyers at a reasonable cost. [5929/98]
Written Answers - Serviced Sites.
A special fund of £15 million over three years has been established specifically to provide water and sewerage services for sites for residential development. When complementary investment funded by local authorities is taken into account total expenditure under this initiative over its lifetime will reach some £37.5 million.
Funding of £2 million is also available in the Public Capital Programme to enable local authorities to provide housing sites at low cost to assist persons in housing need to provide their own housing. Such housing may be provided either individually with the help, if necessary, of the other social housing measures including shared ownership, local authority house purchase loans, mortgage allowances, £3,000 new house grant, or collectively, through voluntary housing schemes, shared ownership projects or housing co-operatives. The cost charged per site is a matter for the local authority based on a number of factors, including the location of sites, income and personal circumstances of the applicant etc. The cost may be as low as £100 per site.