Prezza's £60k 'affordable' homes sham

John Prescott's flagship scheme to build affordable homes for just £60,000 has been exposed as a sham after the first properties went on sale - for at least £175,000 each.

The Deputy Prime Minister challenged developers to construct more than 1,000 homes on ten state-owned sites at a cost of £60,000 each to help first-time buyers on to the property ladder.

But Crest Nicholson, the builder of the first project, has admitted that the homes were never going to be sold for £60,000 and that the project had been a victim of Government 'spin'.

'This was never a competition to provide cheap housing,' said a spokesman.

'It was to improve construction efficiency and design and we are satisfied that Crest Nicholson met that criteria. It was John Prescott who linked the £60,000 price to affordable housing. We never gave that impression.'

Mr Prescott had claimed the properties on land chosen by English Partnerships - the Government's housing regeneration quango - would give people on low incomes a chance to buy their own homes.

But his claims were described as 'misleading' by a Conservative MP after he discovered that the first new homes were selling for at least £175,000 in his Buckinghamshire constituency.

The 16 properties, being built on an old hospital site at Newport Pagnell, are a mix of two-bedroom flats and houses and are on sale for £175,000 and £195,000 respectively.

Mark Lancaster, MP for Milton Keynes North East, said: 'There is little difference in price from any other new-build property in the area. John Prescott allowed people to believe that these houses were going to be cheaper than those already on the market, but the £60,000 challenge was a gimmick.'