KEY workers including nurses, police and teachers are being given new support to help them on to the housing ladder in Cheshire, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper has announced. Long-term increases in house prices due to rising housing demand has meant many key workers are increasingly finding it difficult to buy a home in the county.

Rising economic growth and household growth means there is growing demand for housing but the number of new homes in the area has not kept up.

A recent Halifax survey showed that first-time buyers are facing housing affordability pressures in most towns and cities across England.

The Government is clear that more new homes are needed, including more affordable homes, with £801 million new government investment planned for thousands more affordable and social homes in the North West region over the next few years.

But in the meantime the Government wants more to be done to increase access to low cost homes for key workers and other first-time buyers in Cheshire.

Up to now, shared equity and shared ownership homes have predominantly been available in the South East, but the Government wants to see more people take up these opportunities in all parts of the country.

The Government is today stepping up its drive to make it easier for nurses, teachers, police officers, firefighters and other workers in Cheshire to apply for help available to them to buy a low-cost home.

While many may be eligible for support, some are not aware of the opportunities available to buy an affordable home, either with a shared equity loan that could boost their purchasing power by up to 32.5%, or to buy a part share in a newly built home.

That’s why the Government is simplifying the rules and launching a new campaign to make it easier to get help.

Currently, a family on a combined income of £40,000 could typically obtain a mortgage of just £160,000. But if eligible for the Government's low-cost homeownership scheme, they could potentially buy a home worth around £200,000.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said: “Over the last 10 years, we have helped more than 80,000 families to buy an affordable home. But we want to do more. It is not just in the South East where people face housing affordability pressures.

“That’s why we want to make it easier for nurses, teachers, and other first-time buyers to get support to help them on to the housing ladder and are building thousands more homes over the long-term.”