HUNDREDS of affordable homes are to be built across 50 sites in the Staffordshire Moorlands after £18 million funding was secured.

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council has pledged to provide 424 affordable homes within the next three years after winning an £8 million grant from the Homes and Community Agency (HCA).

The council has teamed up with Harvest Housing Group, which owns Moorlands Housing, and both have ploughed £5 million into the scheme.

The funding comes after the council came under fire last year for its record on the provision of affordable housing, when it was named as the worst in the region.

There are currently more than 1,600 people on housing waiting lists in the area.

Members of the council's resources, overview and scrutiny panel were told yesterday an "exceptional case" had been put forward for the Government money.

A total of 50 sites already owned by the council and Moorlands Housing will be reviewed and developed.

Some have been in the pipeline for years and the Government money will see those projects comes to fruition.

Councillors were told work had already started on building 30 properties at Thorncliffe View, Leek, and Allen Street, Cheadle. These are due to be completed in October.

Other projects will see 'extra care' apartments built at the former British Trimmings factory in Leek, which will provide 87 self contained apartments. And in another development, flats and bedsits in O'Hare Place, Leek, will be demolished next month and replaced with 25 one-bedroom apartments.

Councillors yesterday called for the new homes to be evenly spread across the district and for more one bedroom properties to meet the demands of an aging population.

Biddulph councillor Kevin Jackson, pictured, told fellow councillors: "This is the most important project that the council is involved with.

"If this joint venture had not been set up we would not have got the £8 million from the HCA.

"I believe we got the money because we already had sites on the shelf. There is now pressure to deliver. It is a big task.

"To build 424 homes over a three-year period is a commendable aspiration, but we do need to look at the spread across the district."

Chief finance officer Andrew Stokes said the partnership had put forward an "exceptional case" for the Government money.

He said: "There are over 50 sites in this plan and there is a lot of work to get planning permission, but all of this programme will need to be completed by March 2015."

Cabinet member for regeneration Andrew Hart said: "We have worked hard to deliver affordable housing. We have done very well to get this amount of money."