MORE than 700 new homes will be built across the region thanks to a Government “kickstart” fund, ministers have announced.

Eleven projects that have stalled ever since the 2008 financial crash will finally get underway after developers were given a slice of the £525m pot.

Now the Government is urging other developers to bid for the cash, from what it promises will be a “rolling programme to unlock homes”.

Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, said: “Thanks to the Builders Finance Fund, work will get started on over 160 sites across the country that had been brought to a standstill by the 2008 housing crash.

“This half-billion pound Government investment will ensure we deliver up to nearly 13,000 new homes, and the same number of jobs - getting workers back on site and Britain building.”

The developments in the North-East and North Yorkshire include:

* 49 homes in County Durham, at Shotley Bridge and Stonebridge.

* 100 in Hambleton, at The Oaks.

* 90 in Richmondshire – including 70 at Hipswell Croft, Catterick Garrison.

* 234 in Sunderland - including 155 at Doxford Park.

Launched in April, the Builders Finance Fund targets “shovel ready” sites of between 15 and 250 homes which have the support of local people.

The developers are given loans which they must repay on completion and sale of the homes.

The Government has been strongly criticised for overseeing a fall in the number of new homes, adding to the country’s housing crisis.

In the North-East and North Yorkshire, starts rose by eight per cent from 1,870 in the second quarter of 2013 to 2,020 this year.

However, that only brought the total within touching distance of the 2,030 homes that were begun between April and June of 2010, the general election year.