Community

Combined Authority signs off £6.1 million for new homes

Three substantial grants to help more people find affordable homes in Peterborough were approved by the Board of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority on today Wed July 31st.

The money, agreed subject to conditions, will pay for the development of 88 homes at a brownfield site in Werrington, 33 homes in Drake Avenue, and 25 homes on land at Crowland Road, Eye Green. All the homes will be offered for affordable rent, capped at Peterborough City Council’s Local Housing Level.

As part of the Devolution Deal, the Combined Authority secured £100 million from central Government to deliver 2,000 affordable homes across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and the grants will come from this ‘Affordable Housing Programme’.

On a visit to the Crowland Road site prior to the Board meeting, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Mayor James Palmer said: “Peterborough needs more homes urgently and the Combined Authority is here to make an emphatic contribution to the supply of housing of all types. We are committed to creating homes people can afford and making grants is just one of the ways we’re speeding up delivery of new homes We’re also developing Community Land Trusts, offering loan funding to unlock new sites, and regenerating others. Here in Peterborough, there are currently 395 households and 479 children in makeshift accommodation and I’m determined that the Combined Authority will do its utmost to help all our local citizens find security and get settled into a home of their own.”

Chair of the Combined Authority Housing Committee Cllr Graham Bull said: “We work with all partner local authorities to identify new schemes which we can support with the Affordable Housing Programme. Our housing and development team builds relationships with landowners, developers and housing providers to enable and accelerate delivery across the whole Combined Authority area.”

The Werrington site, adjacent to the Neighbourhood Centre, is brownfield land with a demolished office building and hoarded up retail units which the Funding Affordable Homes Housing Association – FAHHA – proposes to develop with the CA grant of £3,845,600 to deliver a high-quality scheme in an area of housing need.

A full planning application will be submitted in 2019 in the hope that a decision will be made in November 2019.

At Drake Avenue, Cross Keys Homes proposes to use the £1,430,154 grant to convert an existing plan for the market sale of 15 dwellings – with no affordable component – into 33 2-bedroomed apartments for affordable rent. If planning consent is granted, completion of the project is anticipated by August 2021.

With the Combined Authority grant of £875,000, developer Medesham Homes LLP will deliver 25 additional new homes for affordable rent on the Crowland Road site, four miles east of Peterborough City Centre. The grant will be used to convert 25 homes, which had originally been planned for market sale, to 25 affordable rent homes.

The Crowland Road scheme already has full planning permission and completion is expected by July 2020.

Cllr John Holdich, Leader of Peterborough City Council and deputy mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough said: “There is a real need for additional affordable homes in Peterborough so this funding from the Combined Authority to support projects which will deliver an additional 146 homes is fantastic.

“These homes will mean that more people can afford to rent a property, at a time when rental values in the private market price many people out of the market.

“I would like to thank our partners in each of these projects – Cross Keys Homes, Medesham Homes and the Funding Affordable Homes Housing Association. With their support we can continue providing additional good quality homes to meet the needs of our residents and those looking to move to the city.”

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