HARLOW SELECTED AS AFFORDABLE HOUSING PILOT

Harlow has been chosen as one of just 14 councils in the UK to take part in a new project to increase affordable housing.

In the Government’s Green Paper, Homes for the Future: more affordable, more sustainable, it announced plans to increase the number of affordable homes built on surplus public land. Each site will have a minimum of 50% affordable homes.

At present, public land is usually sold to housing developers as local authorities are not allowed to build more homes. Under the pilot project, Harlow Council will be able to continue to own land and will become part of a Joint Venture Local Housing Company. The homes will be funded and built by developers and the Council will keep a stake in the land, which will increase in value over time. English Partnerships will work with the new housing companies and provide a package of financial and technical support.

The affordable homes will include shared equity homes where the householder buys part of the home and the remainder is held by the developer. The householder buys a larger share in the home over time when they can afford to do so.

Joint Leader Cllr Tony Durcan said: “It will be very exciting for the town to be involved in the pilot project. Harlow is growing but we need to enable young people to stay and live and work in the town. There are already a large number of people on the housing register and too many people having to pay high private sector rents. This will give our young people a real chance.”

Joint Leader Cllr Chris Millington said: “Everything is at a very early stage at present and the Council working with English Partnerships, will be carefully evaluating the benefits and implications of creating a Local Housing Company that will be within the current Harlow boundaries. This is such a good opportunity to address one of the major questions, which is “how can people afford a house in Harlow?”.

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Note to editors

The project is currently at a very early stage and sites and numbers of homes have not yet been established. The sites will be within the existing Harlow Council boundaries and will not include any housing identified as part of the Harlow North proposal in the draft East of England Plan.

Other areas involved in the pilot project are: Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Wakefield, Sunderland, Dacorum, Peterborough, Bristol, Plymouth, Wolverhampton, Manchester and Barking and Dagenham.

The Government estimates that the project will result in 35,000 homes, 17,500 of which will be affordable homes.