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More affordable homes are being built, are in development or are have planning permission than ever before, according to Babergh’s latest figures.
Statistics from 2004/05 and up until the end of September 2007 show 239 new homes have been finished, 12 schemes are under construction which will deliver 245 new homes, 271 new homes have planning permission granted and a potential 380 more could be on the cards with schemes under negotiation.
The figures show that Babergh is well on the way to achieving 700 new affordable homes either built or in the development pipeline across the district by 2009/10.
Ian Tippett, Babergh’s Housing Services Manager, said: “At this time affordable housing – and more of it – is so important, especially since the average house price in our district is currently at £229,148. This is so high that the great majority of local, young people are being priced out of the housing market.
“Babergh is now starting to see the results of all the previous hard work put in by council officers, parish councils and our partner housing associations to try and deliver as much affordable housing as we can.”
As part of its commitment to affordable housing, Babergh District Council is always looking at ways to increase the number of affordable homes, either through developments with partner Registered Social Landlords or with private developers.
“The statistics speak for themselves - more affordable houses are being finished and becoming homes for local people,” Mr Tippett added.
“However, there are still 1,900 applicants on our Housing Register and therefore we need to keep working on obtaining planning permission for further dwellings and seek out more potential schemes.
“The problem we have at the moment is that much of the easily-developed land has been identified and brought forward so Babergh is having to be very creative in how we manage to deliver even more homes while respecting our our own planning policies and the high quality of our local environment.”
More information on affordable housing.
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