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Rural Developments
Housing hope for Derbyshire Dales
Highfield Drive, Bakewell
Homes for low-cost home ownership are a feature of two major NCHA rural housing schemes that are a fruit of NCHA’s successful partnership with Derbyshire Dales District Council.
Local people, and particularly the sons and daughters of the villagers, in this beautiful area are being forced to look to cities and towns for somewhere to live because they cannot compete in local housing markets with commuters, second home owners and retired people. It is a pattern of migration repeated across rural areas in the East Midlands.
Local people, and particularly the sons and daughters of the villagers, in this beautiful area are being forced to look to cities and towns for somewhere to live because they cannot compete in local housing markets with commuters, second home owners and retired people. It is a pattern of migration repeated across rural areas in the East Midlands.
The two NCHA schemes will produce 49 homes for shared ownership between them at prices affordable to local people.
The first, in Bakewell, is a £3.5 million mixed tenure scheme of 36 homes – eight of them for shared ownership – was opened in May 2006 in the Peak District town following a five-year planning battle that added £500,000 to the cost of the development. Built in Derbyshire stone, the new houses blend into the landscape, and were described by the county’s planners as the best affordable housing scheme in the country.
The first, in Bakewell, is a £3.5 million mixed tenure scheme of 36 homes – eight of them for shared ownership – was opened in May 2006 in the Peak District town following a five-year planning battle that added £500,000 to the cost of the development. Built in Derbyshire stone, the new houses blend into the landscape, and were described by the county’s planners as the best affordable housing scheme in the country.
Says NCHA’s Director of Development Steve Walker: "Our close partnership with Derbyshire Dales District Council, the Peak District National Park Authority and most important of all, local people desperate for new homes, helped us overcome the small number of local objections"
Sharron Rosling, is thankful that NCHA and its partners persevered and overcame the Nimbies: "Shared ownership is the only way we could afford to get on the housing ladder in Bakewell. My husband and I waited five years on the council waiting list with just this one hope in sight. We have a disabled son and private rented accommodation was simply no good for us. This new home means we can adapt and lead the life we only dreamed of."
Houses under construction at Ashbourne Airfield
The second development, in the Derbyshire Dales area, has 41 homes for shared ownership, which are among the 79 NCHA homes rising from brownfield land at Ashbourne Airfield. The rest of the homes are for rent in this unusually large rural housing development. The first tenants and shared owners have moved in and the scheme will be completed by December 2007.
To help first-time buyers on modest incomes, initial purchase in the shared ownership properties can be bought for as little as 25 per cent as long as an average level of 50 per cent is attained in sales across the scheme. The upper limit is 75 per cent.
The 100 per cent sale price of a home is estimated to be around £145,000 and £165,000, much lower than the going rate for similar homes in the neighbourhood. All potential shared owners for both developments must have a local connection and be approved by Derbyshire Dales DC.
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