In the current very hot weather, Saffron Housing Trust was delighted to celebrate breaking the ground on a new Low Cost Housing Project in the village of Bergh Apton, South Norfolk. Richard Bacon MP for South Norfolk and Councillor Derek Blake, South Norfolk Council Cabinet Member for Planning, Housing and the Built Environment joined Saffron Directors John Whitelock and Stephen Flowitt-Hill and their guests to mark the first of the exciting new housing build in South Norfolk.
The Low Cost Housing Project was introduced by South Norfolk Council to deliver more affordable homes for local people in rural South Norfolk villages. Saffron Housing Trust was appointed as the lead delivery partner for the project. Since that time, Saffron and South Norfolk Council have been working closely together and schemes in six villages have now been granted planning permission; these homes are planned to be completed and occupied during 2011.
In the meantime, work continues to progress on a number of other schemes, which together have the potential to deliver up to 100 more new affordable homes across the South Norfolk district.
The scheme in Bergh Apton will provide six new homes and those with a local connection will be applying through the HomeOptions scheme.
Adam Ronaldson, Chief Executive of Saffron Housing Trust, says:
'Saffron Housing Trust has over 4500 properties throughout South Norfolk and we know how important it is to provide affordable homes in rural communities.
'We are very pleased to be working with South Norfolk Council and are delighted to be celebrating the start on site at Bergh Apton – as the first of all of the Low Cost Housing Project schemes currently planned.'
Councillor Derek Blake said:
"Bergh Apton is a beautiful and historic village with a need for affordable homes so that those who live here and have grown up here are not forced out by high prices.
"The development of six rented one, two and three bed homes show what South Norfolk Council, Saffron Housing Trust and the village community can do when they work in partnership.
"We invested £40,000 in the scheme to ensure the homes were built to level 4 standard - above the usual level three - to make them sustainable for the future, closer to carbon zero, and with extra insulation, air source heating and solar roof panels.
"Even the development's new name, Tenwinter Pightle, is carefully chosen. This development, right in the heart of the village will celebrate sixteenth-century yeoman Christopher Tenwinter, whose generosity with lands and bequests helped Bergh Apton become the wonderful place it is today."
“Finally, if anyone is in any doubt why housing charity Shelter named South Norfolk Council the number one local authority in England for delivering affordable housing, they need look no further than Bergh Apton. This is a small, sustainable and affordable development for local people, built with the consent of local people. Every Council across England should approach housing in this way.”
Back to articles
|
