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New and affordable homes welcome first residents in East Suffolk village
New and affordable homes welcome first residents in East Suffolk village
A contractor who worked on a new housing development near Saxmundham has been able to move himself into one of the homes with the help of East Suffolk Council (ESC).
At the end of March, ESC completed the purchase of eight properties at Darsham Meadows, including four affordable rent homes to be added to the authority’s own Housing Revenue Account (HRA) stock.
While two of the remaining four properties are still available under shared ownership via Orwell Housing Association, all of the affordable rent properties have been taken up by tenants, including a one-bedroom home occupied by Lee Jones.
The 33-year-old fencer worked on the same development during its construction and moved just down the road from his family home in the same village.
The properties comprise a mix of one and two-bedroom homes, including three one-bed and one two-bed affordable rent homes, as well as two two-bed and two one-bed shared ownership homes.
Each was acquired from Hopkins & Moore, now Denbury Homes, under a Section 106 agreement between the developer and planning authority, delivering not only affordable rent housing, but also shared ownership housing, allowing people to buy a percentage of the property and pay a low-cost rent towards the balance, with priority given to applicants with a connection to the area.
Cllr Richard Kerry, East Suffolk Council Cabinet member with responsibility for Housing (pictured left with Lee Jones), said:
“This is a great example of a variety of approaches we’re taking to meet ever-increasing demand for affordable housing in the district. It remains a key priority for us.
“As well as working with private developers in this way, we’ve recently approved revenue funding to deliver a three-year programme to reduce the number of long-term empty homes, plus we have a three-year rolling development programme which aims to achieve at least 50 new homes each year.
“I would like to offer Lee a warm welcome and wish him a happy future in his new home.”
Mr Jones, whose new home is heated by a low-carbon, renewable air source heat pump, added:
“It can be a struggle for younger people, unless you’ve inherited something, to get on the housing ladder – or even find somewhere to rent without having to pay eight or nine hundred pounds a month and a deposit on top of that – so I just wouldn’t have been able to afford to live here otherwise.”