£8m investment for SKDC council house building

Around 80 new council homes will be built across South Kesteven over the next three years as the authority continues to invest in affordable housing.

District councillors on Monday (March 2) agreed to budget a further £8 million to deliver a range of properties in rural and town locations.

Neil Cucksey, SKDC’s executive manager for property, said: “As we progress towards successfully completing 33 new homes on land owned by the council, work is well underway to identify and bring forward the next tranche of sites.

“We are looking to build the right housing, in the right place, at the right time in response to what our residents need, and want. This means a range of affordable housing in a variety of tenures right across the area.”

He said the next programme of house building will also consider the opportunity for offsite manufacture to quicken the development process and manage development costs to maximise the return on the council’s investment.

“We may also be able to attract some external funding into some of the proposed sites to assist the viability of the development and allow us to provide homes which people can afford to rent,” said Mr Cucksey.

 Just two years ago SKDC made the decision to start building again and invested £3 million into the project – creating the first new council houses in the district in over 10 years.

Tenants have already moved into four new properties in Grantham’s Sandon Road and further homes have been built in Thames Road.

In Stamford the Glen Crescent site, which includes three two bedroom homes and a bungalow, is complete and 20 new properties on Lincoln Road will be finished this year.

“They are much needed additions to our housing stock and the properties are particularly vital as they are of a smaller size than the bulk of our properties to help us to meet the needs of our residents,” added Mr Cucksey.

“This extra £8 million funding will allow us to continue our building programme over the coming years and provide affordable social housing not only for our towns but rural areas as well.”