The Scottish government's new £30m Small Developers Scheme, which will form part of Help to Buy (Scotland), will increase growth in the small housebuilding sector, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Gordon Nelson, director of FMB Scotland, said: "Like the Scottish government, we want Help to Buy (Scotland) to stimulate sales of new homes across both urban and rural Scotland, thereby helping more people across the whole country to buy new homes. This is only achievable with the participation of smaller local building firms and we therefore welcome the move to ring-fence £30m specifically for buyers who want a new property built by one of these companies.

"I am hopeful that many small and medium-sized (SME) housebuilders in Scotland, which are known and trusted in their communities, will now be able to benefit from this additional funding. Over the past 20 or 30 years we have seen a decline in the number of new homes built by smaller firms and this sort of initiative could help reverse the trend."

Mr Nelson concluded by saying it was essential that the Scottish government make the scheme as accessible as possible, but limiting the bureacracy involved and making the process for businesses that wish to register as simple and straightforward as possible.