Doncaster County Council has agreed to dispose of forty-seven plots of land they own to help tackle the ever growing waiting list for a home. Experts predict that the agreement will see a mix of four-hundred affordable homes and council owned dwellings built throughout the borough, which will also give a boost to landlord insurance providers in the city.
The cost of the huge scheme will be assessed on a site by site basis and each of the sites will be designed for a specific housing scheme. The agreement comes at a time when the waiting list for a council home continues to increase and now stands at 11,500. Mayor Peter Davies said he was keen to see any housing built on brownfield sites and wants to avoid developments in the surrounding countryside.
Mayor Davies said: “We are trying to facilitate the building of affordable homes and social housing. I’m keen to stop building in villages around the borough, although I think some schemes are already happening. That must stop because it is ruining the rural nature of parts of the borough. I’m particularly keen to get houses on brownfield sites in the centre of the borough for economic and environmental reasons. Affordable housing is a priority because we are getting a situation where people can no longer afford to buy.”
Some of the sites will be sold on the open market while others will go to housing associations that will use their own finance to fund the development. The council will also build some new council housing which would be managed by St Leger Homes. The cost of any new council properties will be covered by borrowing, which would be repaid from the rent paid by the tenant of the new homes.