Cabinet members are being asked to approve allocating more than £1million for affordable housing projects, providing 32 homes, in Bury St Edmunds.
A report to the Cabinet meeting on 2 June says that £1,104,270 from the £2million capital set aside by the council for affordable housing would see 25 homes in Cotton Lane and four flats over shops at Moreton Hall available for rent to those on the West Suffolk Housing Register. A further three homes at Abbotsford Park, Moreton Hall, would be built to wheelchair standard for special needs housing.
The request for the council's support for these projects follows the allocation of £8.5million by the Housing Corporation for 205 affordable homes in St Edmundsbury over the next two years. Although this was a highly successful bid for money, not every project was given funding by the Housing Corporation. Some will be going ahead with alternative funding but the schemes at Cotton Lane and Moreton Hall need funding from St Edmundsbury to go ahead.
Without the council's £908,000 grant the opportunity for affordable housing on this site would be lost, the report states. At Abbotsford Road, the Housing Corporation funding covers general needs accommodation but homes which meet the wheelchair standard are a priority and need extra funding (96,270). A further £100,000, the report says, would provide four flats for rent over Moreton Hall shops.
Cabinet members will hear at the meeting that there is an urgent need for more affordable housing in St Edmundsbury, with more than 3000 on the West Suffolk housing Register - an increase of 500 since March 2003.
ENDS
ISSUED BY MARIANNE HULLAND, COMMUNICATIONS UNIT, ST EDMUNDSBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL. Tel 01284 757034. marianne.hulland@stedsbc.gov.uk
