The government has unveiled a £25 million fund to help local authorities to deliver more homes.

Now open for bids, the Planning Delivery Fund will support local authorities and third sector organisations in areas of high housing need.

Housing minister Alok Sharma said it would help councils deliver high quality housing growth at scale, pace and implement wider planning reforms.

The fund is aimed at encouraging more innovation in the design quality of new housing developments, as well as provide design advice and support to local authorities.

It was announced as part of the government’s plans to raise housing supply to 300,000 per year on average by the mid-2020s.

Mr Sharma said: "Locally-led developments have enormous potential to deliver the scale and quality of housing growth that we need.

"By supporting our local authorities, we will be able to unlock more homes where people want to live."

Across England, the government was supporting 24 locally-led garden cities, towns and villages, which have the potential to deliver around 220,000 homes.

Backed by £16 million funding, a further £3 million has been allocated to 14 garden villages in the programme.

It will fund dedicated staff and studies and assessments that the government says are vital to the delivery of garden villages.

The first part of the Planning Delivery Fund allocation of £11m is for the financial years 2017-18 to 2018-19.