The first ever garden villages of between 1,500 and 10,000 homes could deliver more than 48,000 homes. Sites for new villages include green belt land and spread from Cornwall to Cumbria.

In an expansion of the existing garden towns programme, the Government has also unveiled three extra locations for larger garden towns in Buckinghamshire, Somerset and the Essex-Hertfordshire border.

The new villages will receive about £6m in government funding over two years to help deliver the projects, with a further £1.4m of funding being provided for the delivery of the new towns.

The cash will be used to unlock the full capacity of sites, providing funding for extra resources and expertise to accelerate development and avoid delays.

Together with the seven garden towns already announced, these 17 new garden settlements have the combined potential to provide almost 200,000 new homes across the country.

Housing and Planning Minister Gavin Barwell said: “Locally-led garden towns and villages have enormous potential to deliver the homes that communities need.

“New communities not only deliver homes, they also bring new jobs and facilities and a big boost to local economies. These places combined could provide almost 200,000 homes.”

By 2020, more than 25,000 housing starts are expected in garden villages, towns and cities supported by the government.

Homes are already being built in several locations, including Bicester, Basingstoke, Didcot, Ebbsfleet, Aylesbury, Taunton and North Northants.

The new garden projects will also have access to infrastructure funding programmes across government, such as the new £2.3 bn Housing Infrastructure Fund announced at this year’s Autumn Statement.