FIRST ‘SMALL LAND PARCEL’ NEW AFFORDABLE HOMES HANDED OVER

A Suffolk-based building contractor has handed over the keys to the first new affordable homes to be built as part of a programme to make the most of small parcels of land in the county – with two one-bedroom bungalows in Bury St Edmunds the first to be made available.

Paul Pitcher of Lowestoft-based developer Wellington handed over the keys to the two new homes, in Highbury Road in the town, to Scott Bailey, director of development at Havebury Housing Partnership.  The new homes will be made available to potential buyers on a shared ownership basis.

The scheme enables buyers to purchase anything from 40 per cent of the home upwards, paying affordable rent on the remaining proportion of the home.  Buyers will have the opportunity to increase their percentage of the equity s and when they can afford it.

The Highbury Road scheme is the first of three sites which are currently being developed by Havebury to provide affordable shared ownership homes, with the other two sites in Ashwell Road, Bury St Edmunds and Water Lane, Barnardiston already well advanced.

“This partnership between ourselves and Wellington is resulting in new homes being built on small parcels of land which would otherwise not be used,” said Mr Bailey.  “Not only does this provide much-needed new homes, but it also improves neighbourhoods by putting unused land to good use.”

Mr Pitcher, managing director of Wellington, added, “We are delighted to be working with Havebury on this project.  Working on very small sites spread across the county requires a flexible approach, but this is something that Wellington has done across East Anglia, and so we are able to deliver these new homes efficiently and with minimum disruption for people living nearby.”

Anyone interested in the shared ownership homes being built as part of the project can contact Bychoice estate agents in Bury St Edmunds on 01284 769598, or Havebury Housing Partnership on 0300 3300 900.