NEW homes for first-time buyers will be built on nine former hospital sites across the North-East as part of a fresh bid to tackle the country's housing crisis.

The land - the size of 190 football pitches - will be transfered next week into the ownership of English Partnerships, the Government's regeneration agency.

The nine sites are among about 100 that will be transfered nationwide - creating space for 15,000 new homes, of which at least one-third is planned to be "affordable".

By far the largest in the North East is 76.5 hectares of land at Birney Hall Farm, Ponteland, near Newcastle International Airport

The next biggest site is at Aycliffe Hospital, Newton Aycliffe (31.9 hectares), followed by the Children's Hospital, Stannington (11.6) and Killingworth Stores, Killingworth (15.8).

Smaller sites will be developed at Maiden Law Hospital, Durham (5.4),

Ashington General Hospital (2.0), Tindale Crescent, Bishop Auckland (1.2), St Georges Hospital, Morpeth and at Shotley Bridge Hospital, Consett.

The use of former hospital sites was announced yesterday as part of Labour's plans to create a million more home-owners if Tony Blair wins a third term in Downing Street.

Labour has also pledged to form a partnership with mortgage lenders to help people, particularly social tenants, buy a proportion of a home through a low-cost equity loan.

And the Government is running a competition for builders to encourage the development of a house costing only £60,000.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said the equity schemes, called New Build and Open Market HomeBuy, could help up to 100,000 people into home ownership by 2010.

He said the best way to ensure more people could claim a share of Britain's wealth was for those people to have the chance to own their own home.

Mr Brown said: "With home ownership expanding into new areas and new groups, today I see Britain as one of the worlds greatest wealth owning democracies."

But the Conservatives insisted the plans would not lead to full home ownership because many people would be buying only a share of the property.

Caroline Spelman, the Tory local government spokesman, said: "After eight years in power, and just weeks before a General Election, Labour claim to finally help people own their own homes. Except of course it won't be 'own your own home' under Labour - it will be 'own the living room and pay rent on the kitchen and the bathroom'."

Mrs Spelman said the flagship Tory proposal on housing policy would give a million more housing association tenants the right to buy their homes.