There has been an encouraging response to the Government's New Growth Points Initiative, with a number of towns and cities across the country keen to pursue sustainable growth, linked to their wider strategies for local economic growth, balancing jobs and new homes and creating more attractive, sustainable places to live. Over 20 bids have been received, representing more than 50 local authorities, with a good spread of applicants from the South West, East and West Midlands as well as the South East and Eastern regions, the Government announced today. If all these bids are realised we would secure an extra 8-10,000 homes per year, 80,000 in total by 2016, in addition to existing plans and the existing growth areas.

Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Conference in Harrogate, Ruth Kelly said: "Many of our regional towns and cities want to grow and are experiencing increasing housing pressures. They want to become more attractive places for business to invest and young people to stay and find a home. Of course we will need to look carefully at the proposals coming forward but I am greatly encouraged by the good early response to this scheme".

Bids were invited by the end of March and those announced today will now be the basis for more detailed discussions over the next few weeks. In some of these proposals there remain important issues to resolve affecting transport and the environment. In line with the commitment made when the ambition to increase house building rates was announced, Government needs to be assured that key infrastructure will be delivered at the right time to address the impacts of additional housing.

The bids will be subject to careful consideration, followed by consultation, testing and examination in the regional planning process. In taking forward these proposals we will be working closely with other Government departments and agencies including the Department for Transport, DEFRA, the Environment Agency, Natural England and CABE, the Government's design adviser, to look at these issues in more detail. An announcement on taking forward the schemes will be made in October.

The growth will need to be sustainable, managing environmental impacts and be realistic in terms of required infrastructure. Concentrating additional growth within designated growth points will help protect the environment from inappropriate development and it will reduce pressure on Greenfield land wherever possible. Indeed, the New Growth Points Initiative is a significant opportunity for the eventual locations to become exemplars of sustainable development, becoming pioneers for what is achievable in terms of eco-development, encapsulating high design standards in parallel with meeting the housing needs of local communities.

Ruth Kelly said: "This is about strengthening the economic potential of communities, driving forward urban regeneration, delivering homes and jobs hand in hand with the necessary infrastructure and raising environmental standards higher than ever before."

Some of the areas awarded growth point status will receive a share of an initial £40 million pot to support a first round of early site infrastructure projects, unlock sites for new housing and improve the environment. To give local authorities more freedom in how this funding is applied Government is proposing to include it in Local Area Agreements which will give local partners extra flexibility in managing the programme locally. This is intended to be the beginning of a stronger long term relationship with Government and links to our approach on City Regions as well as giving all partners greater encouragement to co-operate locally to secure sustainable growth.

The Government launched the initiative in December when it published its response to Kate Barker's Review of Housing Supply, which outlined the need to increase house building rates to ease pressures on first-time buyers and meet the growing housing needs of the nation.

Ruth Kelly added:"We have an ageing, growing population and house building rates are simply not meeting this rising demand. We need to build more homes in all parts of the country, but that growth must be sustainable. Unless we build more homes across the board we face increasing problems of overcrowding, homelessness and pressures on first-time buyers."

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