CONSTRUCTION has begun on land recently sold by council chiefs in order to provide more affordable housing in the city.
The Mayor of Worcester, Coun Paul Denham, cut the first sod at the site on Ambrose Close last Friday (January 20) as work began on the building of the 38 affordable homes.
Worcester City Council sold the land to Waterloo Housing Association, who will build, own and manage the homes, as part of a commitment to help provide more affordable housing in Worcester.
The 38 new homes will be a mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom flats and houses.
Twelve of them will be sold as shared ownership to help city residents get a foot on the housing ladder.
Coun Roger Berry, city council cabinet member for housing and heritage, said: “I am proud to see this happening as there is such a critical shortage of homes at affordable rents in the city. I just hope the Government’s Housing White Paper will help rather than prevent councils from providing new homes.”
The new housing will be available to residents currently registered on the city council’s HomeChoice Plus housing register.
Waterloo Housing Association also bought a second piece of land from the city council, off Tintern Avenue. Work has started to build eight new homes, four of which will be sought-after bungalows.
The Government’s Homes and Communities Agency provided more than £987,000 in funding towards the two housing projects to help national house building targets for affordable homes.
Anthony Riley, Waterloo Housing group director of development and operations, added: “We are absolutely delighted to be working in Worcester with support from our partners at the city council and Homes and Communities Agency to be providing these affordable homes for local people.”
Clive Jessup, managing director of Jessup Brothers, who are building the new homes, said: “The start on site is a celebration of the private sector working in collaboration with Worcester City Council to deliver homes for the people of Worcester.”
