Great homes to live in

We’re continuing to make great strides in providing more affordable housing across North Yorkshire.

One of the innovative ways we are doing this is by buying back privately-owned properties and carrying out upgrades to these homes before letting them to local people.

This ‘purchase and repair’ scheme has already resulted in nine properties being converted into affordable housing, with a further 12 currently in the process of being refurbished. This is happening in areas such as Northallerton, Stokesley and Bedale and represents a total investment of £3.5 million, which includes grant funding of £838,000 from Homes England.

We’re also either completed, or are close to completing, several new affordable housing schemes across our area. In Thirsk we have converted a former office building in the centre of town and provided a stunning new development of 6 homes.

In November, we will be taking final handovers at Helmsley, where 18 affordable homes for rent are being allocated to people with a local connection and early in 2020, we will be completing on a major, 56-home scheme in Malton, with properties being provided for affordable rent or sale through shared ownership.

There are also various schemes either underway, or in the pipeline. In the village of West Witton, near Leyburn, we are building six two and three-bedroom homes for discounted sale and 2 for affordable rent. This is our first development in the Yorkshire Dales National Park since 2008.

In Carlton Miniott, near Thirsk, we have been granted a rural exception to build seven homes in a field in the centre of the village, with these properties also being allocated via discounted sale or affordable rent.

We have submitted a planning application to Hambleton District Council to create a new, 59-home extra care scheme in Bedale. This will provide homes for older people, enabling them to remain living independently, but with on-site support if needed
Various other affordable schemes will get underway, or be completed, throughout the rest of 2019 and into 2020 and we will continue to update you on our progress.

We were also delighted to learn that we have been short-listed for two national development-based awards. At the end of October, we will discover whether our affordable housing scheme in Malton has won best development or if we have won development team of the year in the 2019 Inside Housing Development Awards.