More than 6,000 homes built in Sheffield in the past year with 4,000 more possibly on the way

Huw Bowen, Sheffield City Region's lead for housing, said 6,200 new homes were built in the region in the past year, which he said was proof the economy was thriving.

It comes as a multi-million pound bid by Sheffield Council to build more than 4,000 new homes on 34 brownfield sites was shortlisted for funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Sir Edward Lister, chairman of Homes England, was told of the figure at a meeting of the SCR's Housing Compact partnership - made up of councils, housing associations and other organisations - which aims to build more homes across Sheffield.

Sir Edward, welcomed the group's More New Homes initiative and said it represented a change in homebuilding across the country, where housing associations, builders and councils work together, rather than against each other, to obtain funding.

"We need to work together to identify more ways that Homes England can work with the Sheffield City Region team to help them achieve their ambitious housing targets. We will work with the City Region to build on the collaborative working arrangements," he said.

Sir Edward also heard about the City Region's Housing Fund, which will see its first fast-tracked development of 38 affordable homes built by June 2019. The fund aims to deliver a further 3,200 new homes and create around 2,000 jobs.

Mr Bowen said: "Having affordable and high quality homes available for a workforce is vital to economic growth in the whole region.”

Tony Stacey, chief executive of South Yorkshire Housing Association, who hosted the meeting, said: “At a time when we see homelessness increasing all around us, this renewed focus on providing homes affordable to everyone and at scale is very welcome.”

Meanwhile, Sheffield Council is hoping to secure government funding for its homebuilding plans, which would see around 3,600 homes built in and around the city centre built.

It is one of 44 authorities to be shortlisted for the funding and now has until the autumn to develop a more detailed plan and funding bid.

Coun Ben Curran, cabinet member for planning and development, said: "We’re doing everything we can to encourage more house building in Sheffield, so I’m absolutely delighted that we’ve been shortlisted for this extra funding.

“The national housing crisis is hitting people here in Sheffield as well. This investment is needed to help us build the homes we need on the brownfield sites that we want. House building also brings new job opportunities to the city so we really want to ensure we make it through to the next stage."

“This bid is only the start. We have much bigger plans to develop along the canal and develop a Sheffield to Rotherham corridor to deliver thousands of new homes and regeneration to those communities.”