Government funding could see that hundreds of new homes are built in Chelmsford.

The £5.7 million funding would be for a new link road at Chelmer Waterside which would enable the development of 570 homes. The news comes as the government announced an £866 million investment to help create 200,000 new homes.

Housing Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that 133 council-led projects across the country will receive funding to support local work that will make housing developments viable and get much-needed homes built quicker.

Chelmer Waterside is in the centre of the city and is Chelmsford’s largest remaining brownfield site.

Development on sites, two to seven is currently constrained by the capacity of the road network.

A new link road would disperse traffic across the network. This, with the removal of the gas towers and decontamination of land, would ensure the viability of sites two to seven.

With the government committed to building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s, this first wave of funding from the £5 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund is part of a comprehensive programme to fix the broken housing market.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, said: “Today marks the first step of the multi-billion-pound investment we announced at the Budget to help build the homes our country needs.

“This fund finances vital infrastructure such as roads, schools and bridges, which will kick-start housing development in some of Britain’s highest-demand areas.

“This support will help us meet our ambitious plan of building 300,000 new homes each year and ensure we have enough housing in areas which need it most.”

Housing Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Our priority is building the homes this country desperately needs.

“This first wave of investment totalling £866 million will help get up to 200,000 homes off the ground, making a huge difference to communities across the country.

“This is just one of the many ways this government is taking action to get Britain building homes again.”