More affordable homes for rent are being built in Ipswich, according to
figures unveiled by the Borough Council today.
More than 120 homes - most of them houses or bungalows - have either been recently completed or are under construction or in the pipeline.
The Borough Council has entered into an agreement with Orwell Housing Association to turn a number of small sites in the town, mainly old garages and other brownfield areas, into much needed homes for rent.
These homes are in addition to the many affordable homes, mainly flats, being constructed on the Waterfront, and others built on the Hayhills site and elsewhere. At present, developers constructing 15 homes or more must provide some affordable accommodation but the Council is still seeking more houses for families.
Six small sites have been identified and work on one, Recreation Way, will start in January. Here, seven bungalows, two to wheelchair standard, are replacing an old garage block plagued by vandals. This development follows the recent completion of 12 homes, half for rent, half for shared ownership, in Foxhall Road after the Council sold off a derelict site it had previously compulsorily purchased under its
Empty Homes Strategy. This site was developed by Circle Anglia and part-funded by the Housing Corporation.
Other sites earmarked for affordable homes by the Council are in:
- Clumpfield (36 homes, 18 of them houses, where an old and no longer needed sheltered housing scheme is set to be demolished). It is proposed to start work in March 2008.
- Burke Road (three bungalows on a garage site). Proposed start date: April 2008.
- Kildare Avenue (11 houses and bungalows, two to wheelchair standard).
- Ulster Avenue (one bungalow on a former garage site which was the focus of anti-social behaviour).
- Fitzwilliam Close (three bungalows, one to wheelchair standard on a former garage site also prone to anti-social behaviour).
By selling the land at a discount to its housing association partners, the Council can reduce the latter's funding bid to the Housing Corporation and so improve the chances of success.
Other new affordable housing is being provided in Victoria Street (two houses and one supported housing scheme) on land sold by the Council to Sanctuary Hereward Housing Association.
At Ravenswood, 46 affordable homes are set for completion by the end of 2008. Thirty-four of these are houses or bungalows, and 10 are wheelchair standard homes. This development by Flagship Housing Group is being funded by a partnership between the Borough Council and the Housing Corporation.
Councillor Steven Wells, the Council's Housing portfolio-holder, said: "By working with others and by selling at a discount small brownfield and often derelict sites in the town we are increasing dramatically the number of affordable homes for rent in Ipswich and the majority of these are houses and bungalows, some of them meeting wheelchair standards."