5:40pm Thursday 17th December 2009
By OWEN BENNETT
DEVELOPERS are bidding for nearly £10million of Government funding to help four Colchester housing projects get off the ground.
Four developers hope to build a total of 292 homes in the town using some of £550million set aside to give the construction industry a shot in the arm.
Many of the new houses would be aimed at people struggling to get a foothold on the housing ladder.
If the the developers win the money, they will have just two years – until March 2012 – to get the homes built and occupied.
One company has always said without the Government cash, the extra homes will not be built for the foreseeable future.
Countryside Properties, which has already partly developed the Fortuna Park site, off Lordswood Road, has applied for £2.5million to build 69 further homes.
Countryside’s Guy Lambert said if it was successful, the funding would allow the final stages of the development to go ahead. But he added: “Without the funding, the site would most probably stall.”
Mr Lambert confirmed seven of the extra homes would be smaller properties, aimed at the bottom end of the housing market. He said: “It’s a relatively low number, because most of the affordable homes have already been provided on the development, 25 per cent of which fell into that category.”
The Northfields development, off Turner Road is bidding for the biggest slice of the Government money.
Linden Homes has applied for £5.8million to build 135 extra homes.
The other sites which could benefit from the scheme are Colne View, off Old Heath Road, and the Myle, off Mill Road, Mile End.
Keith Parrett, managing director of Barratt Eastern Counties, refused to confirm if further work at Colne View depended on it winning a grant.
He said: “Subject to the outcome of the application, we will need to review the situation in light of prevailing economic conditions at the time.”
George Cronin, managing director of Redrow Homes con firmed it was applying for finds to build 30 homes at the Myle.
They included 17 which would be offered through the “HomeBuy Direct” scheme.
This allows couples earning less than £60,000 a year between them to take out loan covering as much as 30 per cent of the price of the property, with a normal mortgage covering the remainder.
The loans would be interest-free for the first five years.
Final decisions on the grant applications are due to be announced by the Government in the next few weeks.
Regional minister Barbara Follett said: “Getting these projects moving again is a positive step for the builders and the apprentices who will be working and learning again, but also for first-time buyers and prospective housing association tenants, as half of the homes to be built will be affordable homes for purchase or social rent.”
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