St Edmundsbury Borough Council is being asked to give £150,000 towards a housing scheme which would see affordable housing worth £4.4 million being built in Hales Barn, Haverhill.
At its last meeting, the Haverhill Area Working Party agreed to ask Cabinet to recommend that St Edmundsbury gives the grant to make sure the scheme can go ahead. If the grant is approved, the Flagship Housing Group scheme will see 40 new homes built. With 37 new homes being built by Jephson Homes Housing Association, that means more than £8 million is being spent on affordable housing in Haverhill, including £2.79 million from the Housing Corporation.
Should Cabinet agree to the recommendation, the combined schemes on Hales Barn Farm will see the development of 77 new affordable homes including 53 social rented units, 14 general shared ownership and 10 key worker shared ownership units. The schemes help St Edmundsbury Borough Council to deliver its goal of providing good quality, affordable housing in the borough.
Cabinet will consider the recommendation at its next meeting on Wednesday 5 May.
Also on the agenda at last week’s meeting was a presentation made by Graham Vallis from Graham Vallis Associates, outlining the results of the Haverhill Healthcheck. The Healthcheck was jointly commissioned with the Haverhill Town Council and aims to encourage local people to get involved in identifying what is needed for the town and surrounding areas over the next 10-15 years to make it a better place to live and work. The Healthcheck will be officially launched at the Haverhill Partnership Forum meeting on 14 June.
The group then went on to discuss the Haverhill Town Centre Work Plan where members agreed to look at the issues on a site by site basis at a meeting later in May and to discuss the outcome of this and a strategy for the town centre with the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise 2000.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Please contact the Haverhill Working Party group members for comment:
Cllr Jeff Stevens – Chairman (01787 277327/01440 762511)
Cllr Gerry Kiernan – Vice Chairman (01440 705135)
Cllr Jeremy Farthing (01440 820 763)
Cllr Geoffrey Rushbrook (01440 704229)
Cllr Adam Whittaker (01440 713022)
Cllr Maggie Lee (01440 714355)
Cllr Derek Redhead (01440 820441)
ISSUED BY MARIA ETHRIDGE, COMMUNICATIONS UNIT, ST EDMUNDSBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL. Tel 01284 757033 Fax 01284 757032 maria.ethridge@stedsbc.gov.uk
