Young people hoping to get onto the housing ladder in south Essex were given a huge boost by Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday as he delivered his budget speech with one councillor saying “let’s get building”!

The Chancellor announced at least £44billion of capital funding, loans and guarantees over five years to support house-building and deliver 300,000 new homes a year across the country.

Cash for house-building will include a £630million small sites fund, some £2.7 billion to more than double the Housing Infrastructure Fund, £400million for estate regeneration, and a £1.1billion fund to unlock strategic sites. It also includes £8billion of new financial guarantees to support private house-building; and an additional £34million to develop construction skills. The Housing Revenue Account cap will also be lifted for councils in “high-demand areas”.

The Government says it has a target of building 300,000 homes annually to be met “by the mid-2020s”.

The extra cash for housing was broadly welcomed by south Essex councillors. Kerry Smith, Chairman of Basildon Council’s Housing and Community Committee said: “Restrictions on the housing revenue account stops us from borrowing cheaply to build council houses. We have to set up companies to be able to build just a few homes at the moment. If the cap is lifted for Basildon Council I want to start building council houses like there’s no tomorrow. We have 1,700 people waiting for council homes.”

Castle Point Council has recently come under fire from the Government for failing to finalise its local plan to earmark land for future house building.

Independent Canvey councillor Dave Blackwell said: “We have huge waiting lists in Castle Point so something needs to be done to reduce that.We have 450 families in caravans in Thorney Bay on Canvey. We’re desperate in Castle Point.

“The problem is when we do build houses in Castle Point they are snapped up by people in London. We need to be able to make sure they can be used by local youngsters.”

The Chancellor also announced a review of so-called land bankers, developers who gain planning permission for sites but fail to start building. The Government will also abolish stamp duty for all first-time buyer home purchases up to £300,000.

Other reforms include the removal of the seven-day waiting period for Universal Credit. The National Living Wage will rise in April 2018 by 4.4 per cent, from £7.50 an hour to £7.83.

Income tax-free personal allowance will rise to £11,850 and higher rate threshold to £46,350 in April 2018, leaving the typical basic rate taxpayer £1,075 a year better off compared to 2010. Tobacco duty will remain at inflation plus 2 per cent, with an additional 1 per cent duty on hand rolling tobacco this year. There will be legislation to increase duty on high-strength low-quality alcohol from 2019, but duties on other ciders, wines, spirits and on beer will be frozen.

The Chancellor also said he is setting aside £3billion over the next two years for Brexit preparations and stands ready to allocate further sums if and when needed.