Riverside Quarter scheme back on - with 40 homes going to council tenants (From Gazette)

Riverside Quarter scheme back on - with 40 homes going to council tenants

3:40pm Thursday 9th July 2009 in

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ANOTHER housing development in Colchester is finally getting off the ground again, after the Government agreed to give a grant of more than £2million, it has been revealed.

In May 2008, Persimmon Homes stopped work at its Riverside Quarter development, off Cowdray Avenue, because of the economic downturn.

A year on, talks with Colchester Council and Government agencies mean work on the 117 homes has resumed.

It has emerged twice as many of the homes on the site will now be in the affordable category – 56 instead of the 29 originally proposed – with most of these being offered for rent to families on the council housing list.

The change of heart has been prompted by a £2,169,015 grant from the Goverment’s Homes and Communities Agency.

As part of the deal, as many as 40 of the new homes will be rented to council-nominated tenants.

Beverley Oxford, Colchester councillor responsible for neighbourhoods, praised the deal with Persimmon and also the newly-announced Oakapple Close deal. She said: “The registered social landlord will probably manage it, but we have the nomination rights, so we’ll say who lives where. Both sites will go a long way to helping our housing need for people.”