Telford ponders £54m social housing project
Telford & Wrekin Council will consider plans to build 300 affordable properties over the next three years.
A total of £53.65m would be spent on the scheme, partially funded by government, which the council says will provide “much needed intervention” to address a shortfall in social housing properties, with numbers shrinking through sales, redevelopment and right to buy.
If plans are approved at a cabinet meeting next week, the properties would be the first council housing built in the borough for nearly three decades following the transfer of the council’s housing stock to Wrekin Housing Trust – now Housing Plus Group – in 1999.
Council-owned housing developer NuPlace, established in 2015, owns and manages around 800 properties in the borough, which are mostly available on the open market for private rent.
“At a time when too many local families are being priced out of the housing market, we’re taking action,” said council leader, Cllr Lee Carter.
“We plan to build a new generation of council homes, the first for general housing need in 27 years, giving families the security they deserve and creating opportunities for the next generation to stay and thrive in our borough.
Telford’s Woodside estate was one of the first areas of council housing completed for the new town in the early 1970’s. Credit: Place Midlands
“This is an exciting new chapter that responds to today’s affordability challenges and invests in local people.”
The authority says it could also work with private housing developers to convert homes to affordable social rent, and to partner as a registered provider on new developments across the Borough.
The move follows central government proposals which now allow local authorities to hold up to a thousand properties without the need to establish a formal Housing Revenue Account, which requires more complex administration and accounting processes.
Councillor Nathan England, Cabinet Member for Safer Streets and Better Housing, said housing is a “key priority” for the council.
“This investment would increase the number of affordable homes owned and managed by the council while ensuring we continue to support residents with the greatest housing need, including those facing homelessness, care leavers, survivors of domestic abuse, veterans and people with medical or welfare needs,” he added.
The plans will be discussed when Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet meets on 12 November.
